Mind and Body
by grahamgarrett.powerofanime
Summary: Two souls, two bodies, one past. Before they met, the two of them had had lives filled with suppression, but after they met they found themselves capable of overcoming it as a team. The Empath is pure mind, the Changeling is pure body: can they survive?
1. Hello and Good Morning?

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or it's characters. And you don't know how angry I am about that.

**Mind and Body Chapter**** 1****: Hello and Good Morning…Not.**

The keepers of Manhattan Zoo were grateful for their job: almost anyone could find something that needed to be done to earn some money. It was partly cloudy when the great, green Main Coon stretched and trotted out from the shade next to a confection stand that it had been sleeping next to. He looked around imperiously and hopped up on the low rock wall next to the tiger enclosure.

He looked proudly all around him, at the park in front of him, at the single oak tree in its center that shaded a legion of picnic tables, the stand he had just vacated on his right, the man in the khaki uniform of a zookeeper that was sitting down next to a family at one of the tables for a rest, and the unshaven man that was strolling directly past him. _Hmmm,_ he thought as his sixth sense alerted him, _that one might be trouble._ He mentally shrugged and simply congratulated himself for finding such a purrfect—oops, I mean perfect—place to establish his rule. The other animals were mostly capable of understanding his level of sophistication, and they were more varied here than anywhere else in Manhattan. The humans were as clueless as ever—here he corrected himself again: humans were supposed to be the protectors of the world, and at least here they did something in that line of work. But he had seen too many of them be cruel to anything that lived. He stretched and accidentally attracted the attention of the dangerous man.

_Nice going, Feline Charms,_ he thought wryly, _you had to work your magic on the one that could hurt me._ The man did a comical double take, went pale of face, and quickly backed away. _Yeah, yeah,_ Racist_, go ahead and stare. I am in complete sympathy with Africans._

One of the tigers, a rather runty individual of the Bengal variety, chuckled sadly. _Do you ever stop trying to talk to the humans? _

The Maine Coon's tail swished irritably. _I don't really care that you disapprove of persistence, Shiva, but my kind belongs with a human. Even if I have yet to find someone worthy to be my owner, I will continue to search. In the meantime, I'm content to live here._ Then he noticed what the man was doing and felt the old predatory instinct rise, turning his vision green.

Outside of the cat's mind, the atmosphere suddenly became oppressed and the shadows became more distinct. Without actually changing the idyllic setting, it became menacing. Anthony Plaide, one of the keepers, was attuned enough to his work environment to notice it vaguely, but as he had been engaged in conversation with a tall, broad-chested man that looked like he hadn't seen the business end of a razor for a while, he didn't actually become aware of it.

"Hey mister?" the man's harsh voice said

"How may I help you?" Anthony asked cheerfully, "Do you need to find the bathroom?"

"No." he said, "I want to know about that cat. The green one: how did it get that way?" His tone was a little frightened, which was an odd one for such a physically capable man. Anthony flinched ever so slightly as he glanced at the cat and felt the full blast of its' glare. He turned to the man.

"No one knows how he became green, but Forrest has lived here for practically six years: he was a kitten when he arrived. It hasn't really had a past outside of the zoo, but it still startles people how much he has demonstrated an awareness of it."

"It's unnatural," the man said, "You ought to kill it."

Anthony blanched at the comment and announced urgently, "I suggest you throw that thought away, burn it, and tear it to shreds because you don't want to know what'll happen if you try."

In confusion, the man stared at him, "Why ever not? It's unnatural: unnatural things don't belong, so it should die."

"You're digging your own grave by saying that," Anthony said seriously, "about two years ago there was another man who suggested the same thing. When he went to carry through with his plan, he died. It wasn't noticed until the next day, but the result was…well, let's just say I don't want to think about it. Forrest was sitting on top of his corpse."

The man snorted and stood to leave. "You're nuts to think some stray could be dangerous."

"Then why do you want to kill Forrest?" Anthony said, "No one is allowed near him, by his own rules; with him around, there hasn't been any problems otherwise, either."

Despite himself, the man asked how that was. The reply was that everything just seemed to go well: no one else had been attacked by an animal, and no facilities had broken down since the day Anthony had found him outside a hospital and brought him to the zoo.

After hearing the story, the man who called himself Phil Armonic shook his head and quietly took his leave.

That night Phil spent a full half-hour in his small apartment shining his gun. It was a trusty piece, if old fashioned, and he had hunted with it in the Rocky Mountains in his bad years. It could handle one more job. That damn green cat had scared him. Nothing scared him anymore after the time a Mountain Lion had snuck into his camp, and nothing that broke that record should live. Dark thoughts gathered like a storm cloud over his head, and he loaded it full of shells. He chuckled, "Nothing lives if it frightens me." He muttered to himself.

He stood up, put on his jacket, slung the gun over one shoulder, and strode purposefully through the door. The night was clear and warm, without even a trace of a breeze, and the few stars that could make themselves known beyond the backdrop of city lights shone steadily. He strolled to his little black Honda and got in. Before driving the short distance to the zoo, he checked that the silencer he had bought was secured on his gun. Satisfied with the result, he left it alone.

Arriving at the wrought-iron gate, he parked, grabbed his gun, and slipped over it. Taking care to avoid the paths of the security cameras, he slipped through the shadows toward the tiger enclosure. The sound of the crickets vanished abruptly and the air chilled. The hair on the back of his neck standing vertical, Phil crouched defensively but didn't understand why he did.

He entered the deepest shadow yet—though there was still some light—and spotted the cat's eyes. Forrest ran at his first approach.

Chuckling, he relaxed. "See, mister zookeeper?" he said to himself, "Nothing to worry about." He went on through the complex. A minute later, he was almost caught by a night guard but he backed up into the building's shadow in time. Angry with the man for interrupting him, Phil slunk up behind him and pressed the barrel to his back.

The man stiffened in fright and began to whip around…when a bullet silently tore through him, tearing out his lungs. At the same time a hand found its way around his throat and crushed his Adam's apple, making it impossible to scream. In a sea of pain, he collapsed limply at Phil's feet.

After a dispassionate look at the man, Phil shrugged and walked on, letting him struggle weakly against the encroaching darkness, coughing up blood and unable to cry for help. He would be dead in five minutes, Phil was sure.

Having recovered the dogged mentality that was required for tracking, Phil followed the faint traces of a small feline form's passage. Through half the compound he followed, and became so absorbed in his self-appointed mission that he didn't realize where he was. The traces faded away abruptly and he looked up, thinking it was sitting on a building, perhaps watching him…but it was a cul-de-sac, a dead end. He started to turn unthinkingly, and then realized what had happened. _Damn_, he thought, _that green freak lead me here!_ It was a trap!

He didn't know why it frightened him so much, but he snapped around and raised the rifle to his shoulder, his whole body primed to take a quick shot.

All he saw was a giant shadow before the pain flared all across his neck and body, and the ultimate darkness took him.

His scream had hardly begun when it was silenced forever.

* * *

The pale sun rose the next day in a washed out sky as Monday greeted those foolish enough to rise with the sun. Normally the dark house at the end of the street would be the last one out and about as the proprietor, one Ella Swaggart, insisted on her "beauty sleep". The others that lived on Felton Lane would joke among themselves that this was a perfectly reasonable request, as Ella could use all the additional beauty she got. Other than the bleak building at its end, Felton lane was a classic Manhattan street in that the houses were made of stone and fitted tightly together, along with the constant miasma that lingered from car exhausts and mixed with other types of pollution.

But today was different. Today Ella was the first being to get up, as a surprise was in store for her many young charges. Khale Orphanage was the building's name, and while the neighbors respected the mission, they thoroughly disapproved the methods.

Rachel Roth, six years old, sat on her bed in the far corner of the dark building she had the misfortune of calling home trying to block out the feelings around her with a book. It was the only good one in Ella's possession, she believed. It wasn't so much that she was up early as she was up late: she never slept as well at night, though she was perfectly capable of it, and she preferred to pass the daytime in a partially-sleeping state or a book.

Ella never really knew how far Rachel had gotten in her reading: after giving her and the rest of the children the essentials of writing, reading and arithmetic, Ella had left that part of their lives painfully empty. Rachel preferred it this way, to be truthful, because when Ella wasn't watching the kids she couldn't hurt Rachel. And she was free to go ahead and learn, which was the best thing she liked to do. However, the other children made up for this lack of ministrations in spades.

An orphanage may not be a particularly nasty place in general, but being the target of extreme prejudice because of her purple hair and pale skin made Khale Orphanage almost insufferable. Rachel usually dived into her book in an attempt to block out the bleak surroundings of the girls' common bedroom, but there was never such luck.

With the sleeping forms of her own gender sleeping in neat rows along the wall, Rachel was perfectly happy to leave them be because she had just gotten to the most exciting scene in "Wicked". She was interrupted by a loud, insistent thump on the heavy oaken door and Ella's voice rang. "Come on, you lazy little gits!" she said in impatience, "Today's the day!" she sang, "The sun is shining…and the zoo awaits!"

Rachel briefly snorted in the privacy of her mind. Did Ella really think that such a falsely bright tone would make them happy? She should have at least used it first: that way it made sense. Rachel admitted, however, that the children had been strangely excited when they had been told the orphanage procedures were changed slightly so they actually saw the outside at least once a week and they did go somewhere interesting once a month. Tricia, in the bed next to her own, groaned and fell out from under her sheets to land on the floor with her stomach. "Two more minutes, mommy…." She mumbled through her brown hair and the floor.

Rachel sighed as she felt Tricia's denial in her thoughts. Tricia was one of the few that had become an orphan at the perfect time to remember her parents yet still be unable to care for herself. Rachel could actually count herself lucky that she didn't remember hers. She sensed Ella's quick temper rise outside the door and swung out of her bed.

Crouching down, she shook Tricia's shoulder as the rest of the girls, about 25 in total, left the safety of dreams with varying levels of resistance and got up. Ella swung the door open and saw that her knock had achieved the intended effect. Ella looked around with a sharp gaze, despite how watery her pale blue eyes were. Noticing something wrong, she asked the girls a question. "Where's the creepy one? Rachelle?"

Rachel shook her head. Couldn't she even get her name right? She had been here for as long as she could remember: five years, if the records were correct. She was the last of the first batch to be sequestered at Khale, yet Ella still forgot her name. Sighing, she stood up, having done her duty by the relatively spoiled Tricia. Still Ella pretended to not see her. "I said, 'where is Rachelle'?" She insisted, "You girls are supposed to speak when spoken to, not become mute."

Not wanting to be isolated as a potential friend of "the creepy one", none of the girls answered. The exception to this rule was Tricia. "P-Please, Miss Ella," she squeaked through a huge yawn, "She w-was helping me get up: I-I-I'm a late riser, and she k-knows I like animals…." She fell silent at Ella's glare.

"Yes, well, so you found her." Ella said in disappointment.

As the others shuffled through the door that Ella vacated, many of them made sure to go in such a way that they could bump Rachel. So Rachel hung back, clutching "Wicked" to her small chest. She slipped out of the door once all the "bumper car" girls had gone, hoping to be down the stairs before she was caught by….

Damn. Cameron Cole came bouncing out of the boys' room looking absurdly fresh. His blond hair floated about his round, open face like a halo, and his blue eyes invoked trust among the others. Rachel shook her head to herself, knowing that he was feigning his freshness: the sleep-deprivation virtually poured off of him. Sensing a spike in his version of good humor, Rachel started sweating and tried to go down the stairs as quickly as possible.

"Hello there, twerp," he began casually, with that ever-present tone which sounded to the innocent to be affable, and grabbed her arm hard when she tried to leave, "I knew you'd wait for the others to go down: you're very helpful when it comes to giving me chances to have fun with you."

Rachel cursed herself mentally. How could she have forgotten? Well, what was done was done and she would have to face the consequences. Letting go of her right arm, and leaving bruises behind, Cameron pinched her left arm hard enough to make her drop the book. Ella was a twice-damned fool for having taught him the "turtle-bite" pinch, but it wasn't like he did it to Ella, so Ella didn't care. Cameron shrugged at her reticence and started walking down the stairs. "I'll let your silence go this morning," he said. _Yeah right,_ Rachel thought, _you're too tired to really try._ But Cameron was talking again. "But don't worry: there'll be plenty of opportunities at the zoo." And, leaving Rachel to shiver in fearful anticipation, casually waved behind himself and strolled ahead to get some of the oatmeal before it was all gone.

_Great_, she thought, _knowing him, it'll be something like throwing me in with the tigers and watching as they tear me apart._

Not wanting to go through the traditional follow up from Ella, Rachel instead went to the kitchen and swiped some of the tea that Ella always kept on the stove for herself. Besides, it felt good to get a bit of silent vengeance.

She wasn't allowed to eat anything other than what was served at the meals, so the tea would have to be enough for now.

Besides, she _really_ didn't want to watch Ella inevitably chew out Tricia for defending her.

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Author's note: Maybe it sticks in the craw of many readers to see a cliffhanger in the middle of a chapter, but the end result of the mysterious attack will be revealed in the next chapter: Paths Cross.

Also, reviews may not be needed, but they are very nice.


	2. Paths Cross

**Mind and Body Chapter 2: Paths Cross**

Raven shuddered as they vacated the bus by the side of the zoo and a cacophony of conflicting emotions rose beyond the iron gates. She had known this was a bad idea: she couldn't control her power, and if it went on long enough she would probably lose her mind. So she instead began imagining what she would have done in Elphaba's place when Fiyero admitted his feelings for her. It may not completely remove other peoples' mental states from her mind, but it did reduce them to a dull roar.

A/N: Elphaba and Fiyero are the main romantic couple of "Wicked"

Nervously, Anthony Plaide stood at the entrance gate of the Manhattan Zoo, ready to repel from the tiger enclosure any civilians that wanted to appreciate nature while it was safely behind bars. Even from a distance Raven could sense he was baffled by the police's decision to let the zoo open today, because of what happened last night…. Raven couldn't see just what he was thinking of because at that moment he shook his head, desperately trying to shut out those thoughts. _Why on earth would someone kill a night guard? _She thought, after seeing the man's image in Anthony's mind and almost retching at the vacant-chested sight, _it's not like they're very dangerous._

His thoughts were so dark that he didn't notice the first group arrive. _Oh, Ella._ He thought in distaste. Rachel chuckled in sympathy. She probably just wanted to get the day over with, but Anthony was determined to at least make it worth the kids' while.

As the 41-person group slowly walked up to the gates from the edge of the parking lot, he couldn't help but notice in disgust how Ella's 200 pound, 5'7" body was absurdly round, and the wrinkles in her face that would usually convey a geniality to the world only served to make her cruel cynicism more evident.

He strode forward as the gate swung open. "Hello, miss Ella," he forced himself to say cheerfully, and then, with a more genuine interest, "and you too, kids. I haven't met any of you before, but I'm sure we'll be friends." He didn't see a hooded Rachel roll her eyes in exasperation. _Doesn't he know about Cameron?_ She thought, and then stopped herself. Of course he didn't, he had explained already that he hadn't met any of them, let alone experienced some of the boy's duplicity.

He looked over the group before saying, "May I have everyone's names so I can keep track of you on this tour?" Ella pursed her lips disapprovingly and chose that moment to comment, "Sir, it is my job to keep an eye on them while we are out: you need only concern yourself with the tour."

Rachel couldn't help but smile at the tick that appeared in the man's forehead. The other kids started giving their names of their own free will, mostly to annoy Ella, and Rachel didn't sense any variance of the man's mental state until Cameron's turn came around. At that point she felt him relax and take comfort from Cameron's sweetly smiling face. _Ugh,_ she thought again, _no one knows how bad he is, because he never lets him or her know._ Then it became her turn.

Anthony turned to the small figure in the ratty, black and hooded sweatshirt that was a couple sizes too large and said, "What's your name?" He was surprised when she shied away from him slowly and pulled even further into herself. "Come on," he said softly, "I can't really call you 'girl', can I?"

Ella snorted. "Her name is Rachelle."

Anthony couldn't help but stare as the girl jerked her head up to glare at Ella and revealed _purple hair._ As if to mock his instinctive thought that she had dyed it, the girl turned to him and made it apparent that her eyes were the same rich, violet shade. He _knew_ she wouldn't be able to afford contacts, and why would anyone hide a fashion statement that they had intentionally gotten anyway? "That's right: it's natural." A dry voice said to him in a defensive tone. He stared at her for a second before realizing the girl had answered his thought. His eyes went even wider.

"And it's Rachel." Now he noticed that the voice was hoarse, like it hadn't been used in a long while. Otherwise, though, it was far more mature than the other children's.

"It's nice to meet you, Rachel," Anthony said, "I hope you're interested in animals."

Rachel closed her eyes for a moment and ducked back down, ignoring Ella's incredulous thoughts. So what if she hadn't spoken since she had been sent to Khale? It wasn't like she was going to get a polite answer, was she? But this man, at least, had been willing to give her a chance. That _definitely_ rated him high in her book.

As her eyes were shut she let her mind wander, something she was usually frightened of doing. The animals' thoughts were as she suspected, however: half-formed, fuzzy, and nearly incoherent. She sighed in relief: she could open up a little bit here. She tuned the thoughts and comments of the others as low as she could as her mind explored the avenues of thought until she came up against an image so crisp it had to be another human. She opened her eyes to see that everyone had moved off.

Momentarily frightened, she involuntarily sensed the group's signature energy far to her right, and followed. Catching up to Anthony, who was explaining how long African Gray Parrots lived for and how they could speak such good English, she hesitantly tapped his knee.

Anthony turned at the touch and saw the girl with the odd hair color. "Yes Rachel? What is it?" he asked, hoping, possibly, that he could get her to speak again, but she just pointed beyond him to the corner. Wondering what she meant by the gesture, he turned the corner.

Only to come face-to-face with Forrest.

He jerked for a moment and turned again to Rachel. "What is it?" he asked again, but she shook her head in a dismissing gesture as well as in puzzlement, so he turned back to the rest of the children.

Rachel was nonplussed. _A cat?_ She thought, _with an image as crisp as any human's? It shouldn't be possible._

_Oh, it's possible, all right,_ she heard.

Then she thought, _Wait, you heard me?_

_I didn't hear you, but you communicated, all the same, didn't you?_ The voice said. _Animals rely on body language for understanding: it is a tongue that humanity has evolved away from, developing their silly noises as a replacement. But you… you are looking directly into my mind, aren't you?_

Shaken by the strange conversation, she turned to leave. But she was stopped by the wistful tone. _Please, do not leave just yet: I have wanted to actually talk to a human for some time. You are the first to be able to do so._

She ran.

Forrest sighed. _You'd think since she was different as well, we could have a nice chat._ He shrugged slowly and trotted in the other direction. Hopefully he would catch them again in the reptile house.

Rachel shivered again, but it wasn't in fear. It was in excitement. _Anyone who understands me, even if it's a cat, should be too good to be true, so why wasn't it a hallucination? That man Anthony knows the cat, Forrest was the name I picked up, but he's hiding the real story well enough that I can't decipher it._ Cameron shouted from the tiger enclosure at this point.

"Sweet! You gotta come see this: it's a body!"

On pure reflex, as she was still dwelling on the fact that Forrest was as green as the witch of "Wicked", Rachel slowly walked over to where Cameron had gone. She wished she hadn't. It was indeed a body, but it was almost unrecognizable: Missing the lower half of it's body entirely, the organs of the lower torso were missing as well, leaving the spine to dangle from mangled pectoral muscles and each arm spread wide. It was lying chest down, but that didn't mask the missing throat because the head had been turned completely around. She retched and backed up, unable to move her eyes until she turned around completely, tried to heave up her breakfast, and stumbled off. She was incongruously pleased that she hadn't eaten anything that morning: she would have lost it at that moment in any case. As she stumbled away, she heard Anthony say "My god, that's Phil. He didn't listen."

Her blind escape from the gruesome scene led her away from all human thoughts, and into a maze of vaguely realized needs, the wish to be free, to hunt, to kill…a madhouse of unknowns, nothing clear enough to make sense of; she had been wrong to think the weakness of the thoughts made up for the sheer number of them, but even in her confused state she knew that it was a blessing that the thoughts weren't clear. Even the sight of a dying zebra would be a little too much right now.

Among the confusing welter of thoughts came a single grace note, a clear and understandable image of comfort. She instinctively followed it, hoping in the recesses of her mind that whoever was the owner of the thought could understand her and wouldn't run as she was running now.

Forrest shook with pent up nervous tension. All of a sudden he had felt a resonance of fear deep within him. _What triggered that?_ He thought, _is it my sixth sense? No that's different: this felt more detached. Perhaps the little mind reader? It's possible that she can broadcast as well as receive, after all._ He settled down and prepared to wait.

When she stopped and her vision cleared, Rachel could see a bench in front of a fence, surrounded by grass. Beyond the fence, a Giraffe grazed on a nearby tree. On the bench…. _Forrest,_ She thought.

_That's me. Do you want to talk about it?_

_Well, not out loud._ She thought.

_Then use body language: just as you are right now._

She shook her head and sat down next to Forrest. She was no longer in the grip of fear, and didn't wish to run from anyone who understood her: even if they were at least as strange as she was. _I saw a body._

_And what frightened you?_

_Wha—? Why, the body, of course: it was dead!_

_There are many dead bodies: there's a new one every 60 seconds, just as there is a new life every 60 seconds, somewhere in the world. Some of the dead ones even deserve it._

She stared at him, baffled. Forrest shook his head. _The dead man you saw was the one who killed the night guard last night. He was one of the ones who deserved it._

_But life is precious._

_Yes, life is precious. _My _life is precious; _your_ life is precious. The good people in the world deserve to live good lives: people like Phil are the kind that ruin those lives or take them away. Of course, I am merely excusing myself, but that is part of the reasoning._

She sighed, inexplicably comforted by his blatant admission of a ruthless but ethical code of conduct. _Haven't you heard of mercy?_ She asked in body language: she was getting better all the time.

_Ah, you are no longer speaking what would be called 'baby talk': you are getting better at speaking body language._

_I asked if you had heard of mercy._

_No, I have not._

She shook her head.

_And that is surprising,_ Forrest continued, _but not remarkably so: after all, I have barely begun life in human years. I am nowhere near as smart as I sometimes seem. I am simply being honest._

_Well then, _Rachel said, _maybe I'll get to teach you what mercy is._

_If it prevents me from surviving, I'll pass._

She opened up _Wicked_ in such a way as to reject that view, and began to read. She sensed his question and nodded. She wanted to be a friend, and so did he. Forrest flicked his whiskers in satisfaction and lay down, nestled his shoulders, neck and head on her lap, smiled a catly smile of satisfaction, and closed his eyes.

Anthony, who had followed Rachel with the intention of comforting her, chose that moment to arrive behind her. He gaped at the scene in front of him, mentally incapable to believe that he was seeing Forrest lie on someone's lap.

"If you want to sneak up on me," Raven said unexpectedly, "I suggest you start thinking like a mushroom."

"A mushroom?" Anthony said in a daze.

Raven nodded. "Plants are the only living things without thoughts, after all." Then she burrowed even deeper into her book. Baffled, Anthony then left without saying anything.

As Anthony was leaving, Cameron bumped him on his way to piss off Rachel. Staying a small distance away from the big green cat, he proceeded to verbally abuse Rachel.

"Hey, twerp," he began.

_And hello to you too, jerk._ Forrest said, making Rachel have to muffle her laugh. This, of course, made Cameron angry. "What should I do first, huh? Should I put your hands in the fire? Feed you to the lions? Or maybe you'd be more to the taste of alligators." He strolled closer at her attitude of complete indifference. "Did you hear me, twerp? Twerp? You brain dead or something? Do you need any medication? I'm sure Ritalin can help. Are you going to say something or am I going to break some fingers?" Forrest sat up and bristled menacingly. Cameron grinned menacingly, picked up a rock…and threw it at Forrest, hitting him in the leg.

Rachel's blood boiled at the sight, and she shouted at Cameron. "That's the last straw!" she shouted, surprising all three witnesses with the strength of her voice, "You must stop, Cameron! It won't look pretty if you don't." How she knew that, she couldn't have told anyone.

At that moment, Anthony appeared behind Cameron.

"Hmm, I never expected a six year old to know so much about torture." He said in a seemingly casual voice, "but I'm guessing you know what you are saying so I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave. Of course that is also for your own safety after what you did. I'm sure the bus is waiting outside; you can wait in there until the tour is over."

Temporarily stalled, Cameron slouched and turned to leave. He didn't even try to use his sweet-and-seemingly-innocent face to get out of it. Anthony sat down a good distance from Rachel, still staring at the limp form of Forrest on her lap. She smiled at the sight and said, "He doesn't like his name you know."

"What?" Anthony asked,

"He doesn't like the name 'Forrest' because it reminds him about how different he is." Anthony smiled a little indulgently and countered her well-timed thrust with a parry of his own: "Then what would you name him?"

"Hmm," she thought, speaking was more fun then she had thought, "Garfield."

"Garfield?" Anthony asked in surprise.

"Yes, because he acts like he owns the entire zoo, and he probably does."

That night, Rachel went to bed thinking about the newly named Garfield, and smiled for the first time in a long time.

Back at the zoo, Anthony dialed a number into his phone that he had thought he would never have to call and spoke to the person on the other end. "Hello? Yes, I would like to talk to the Professor about a sighting." He said, and the secretary immediately put him through.

The next morning started as it usually did, with a crash against the door by Cameron. He had found the exact amount of noise he could make that ensured that Ella remained asleep and no one else was able to. It repeated itself until all the girls stumbled into their clothes and ripped the door out of his hands. He grinned maliciously as they nervously slipped past him to the large living room.

Later that day Raven was completing _Wicked_ in her seat away from the window when Cameron walked up to her with a pensive expression on his face. She froze, her eyes no longer moving along the page, as she felt his thoughts subtly shift from sadistic pleasure to murderous intent. She stared in disbelief as he took a butcher knife from the knife block and approached her. "I've been thinking about what you did earlier today with me about that cat," he said conversationally, "and I've decided I can't let it slide. I cannot stand anyone not taking my punishment without complaint. Goodbye Rachel: I hope to see you eventually in Hell."

Shaking, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for a miracle. She heard the swish of the knife but then she heard a _snap_ and Cameron cried out in pain and confusion.

Rachel opened her eyes to see Cameron's arm encased in black energy and pointing in a direction it shouldn't be able to. She gasped and gradually relaxed her tense body, repeating over and over in her mind _He can't do anything now. I don't know why it happened but it means he can't kill me this time._ Then her concentration weakened into its normal state and the black energy disappeared. Cameron groaned and held his arm, staring at her with rage, hate and confusion. You could, in that moment, see the ugliness of his soul writ large upon his face.

She stood up swiftly and ran out of the building, not caring where she might end up, but she vowed never to return to Khale Orphanage. A place that resembled the Nazi prison camps she had once read about was not a place that could be called home.


	3. The Waystation AKA Creative Karma

_**Mind and Body Chapter 3: The Waystation **_

_**A.K.A. Creative Karma**_

In a glass-sided stand-alone room at the entrance of the zoo, Anthony was typing up the daily report on his computer. He glanced in bemusement at Forrest—no, it was Garfield now—and shook his head. He still couldn't believe that the great, green house cat apparently trusted him. Garfield's ear twitched. While Anthony stared, Garfield suddenly raised his head and stared outside the room alertly. He stood and hopped down from the table, to stare outside in the direction of the front gate, where Anthony saw him staring at a small figure in the afternoon sunshine that stumbled toward them.

Instantly Anthony stood and exited the little room, hurrying to the small figure. Upon arriving he saw that it was Rachel, the girl with purple hair on yesterday's tour. His step subconsciously slowed down as he went to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" he asked without thinking, and Rachel jerked up to look at him.

She couldn't comprehend how Anthony had gotten there without her noticing, until she realized that of course he would have been acting on instinct, not thinking at all. _Cameron…knife…kill me…. _She thought, and could sense Garfield's alarm and immediate hate for the nasty boy. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. No need to set some sort of unknown danger on anyone.

Anthony nervously stood there, not understanding what was going on, and startled when he heard Rachel murmur, "Cameron tried to kill me."

"Oh, come now," he scoffed, "the sweet-faced boy? He wouldn't do anything like that." But then he felt both of the other beings staring at him disapprovingly. "What? He couldn't…he wouldn't…no, he didn't…." he trailed off as he saw Garfield shake his head sadly, then added, "Did he?"

"Yes," Rachel said, merely stating it like a fact, "yes he did, with a kitchen knife. Then I…I…I don't know what happened, only I did it, and it broke Cameron. His arm, I mean, it broke…_I_ broke it. And the energy surrounding it glowed; there was energy, you know, black energy." She was rambling, and Anthony could tell by her frightened face that she wasn't used to it.

"All right, calm down," he said soothingly, and thought _I should probably tell that Professor or Chief character, whatever it is he calls himself. But was the energy from her?_ Rachel broke in. "I don't know how I know, but I do know that it was me who broke his arm. And promise you won't call any important people: I can't stand being poked and prodded." _Should I invite her to stay at my house for a while?_ He thought, unsure, he didn't want anything weird happening around him, but he couldn't leave a six-year-old on the streets. He noticed that Rachel perked up. _Great,_ he thought, _there's no way I can surprise her…she's practically omniscient._

"What does 'omniscient' mean?" Rachel asked. Anthony blinked and smiled, _Scratch that: omniscient and unworldly, what a combo…. Crap, that's right! She can hear me! _He shook himself and apologized. "I'm sorry I thought that. Omniscient means that you know all and nothing is a secret."

"Well that's not true…. But was what you thought about giving me a place to stay real?" Rachel asked him. Anthony was caught short, and his mind went blank. He shivered instinctively and glanced at Garfield. The cat was staring at him, not menacingly or in such a way as to influence his decision, but to see what he he wanted to, the prospect of a telepath and a telekinetic _that's the only thing that could explain it,_ he thought, allowing Rachel to pick that thought out of his mind without vocalizing it, did not sound safe in his house. Even though he was a bachelor. Then he saw Garfield shake his head in disappointment and he changed his mind abruptly.

"Yes…yes! You can stay at my place for a while if you need to."

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A pained scream and a slammed door brought Ella barreling down the long, wooden staircase. And no one barrels like Ella. Upon arriving in the kitchen she saw Cameron, a butcher's knife on the floor beside him, rocking back and forth. He was holding his arm gingerly and constantly wincing, breathing in a whistle and muttering to himself, "That little…I'm gonna…_ow_…I don't know what I'm gonna do, but that twerp'll regret whatever she did!"

"What do you mean by 'what the twerp did'?" Ella asked slowly as she walked to him. "Rachel wasn't the one that slammed the door, was she?"

Cameron glared balefully at her, "What do you think? Of course it was her! _Ow…._ I doubt she'll…_ow_…come back, either." Ella's sleepy eyes opened in alarm. There was no way she would let that girl get away: she would lose her job if her employer learned that she had lost a child! "Come with me!" she ordered, grabbing Cameron's arm to take him with her, but his gasping snarl made her let go.

"Are you mad?" he said raggedly after he could speak again, "My arm's broken and you just grab it like we're gonna stroll in the park hand in hand?"

Ella scoffed. "Oh, what are you talking about?" she said testily, "It's probably just a sprain: she isn't strong enough to break an arm, her body is the weakest I've seen."

Cameron blew up at how thick she was being. "She didn't need to touch me!" he said, desperate to get her to listen to him, "She just…I don't know, _willed_ it to happen and it did! OW!" Ella had taken a firmer grip on his wrist and lifted it to look more closely. Unable to brush off the evidence, she reluctantly let go of his hand, accidentally letting his arm drop uncontrolled and sending a new wave of pain through him. Cameron started to cry.

Ella frowned and said reluctantly, "I suppose we should take you to the hospital."

"You think?!" Cameron said sarcastically.

"No, I don't think," Ella retorted as she went to get the car, "I know."

Cameron screamed in frustration.

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Anthony quickly bundled Rachel into his five-room apartment. He got her through the plain plaster door and into his modest living room. His shabby green couch was set against the left wall and the small TV was on the opposite wall along with the rest of his "entertainment". A door on the far wall opened into his bathroom, as he showed Rachel, and the guest bedroom was on the right. He didn't realize just how bad life at the orphanage must have been until he saw Rachel's pale face brighten up at the bed _he_ felt stunk to high heaven—it was only a mattress. "This…will be my room?" she asked. Anthony just nodded.

With a smile that was all the more touching for being the first one he had seen on her face, Rachel collapsed onto the mattress and sighed. Garfield hopped up and sat by her head, looking at her with what Anthony could have sworn was a look of kindness. "It's perfect," she murmured.

Anthony blushed. "Well, I don't know about _that_," and Rachel looked at him in confusion. He pulled at his collar and said quickly, "Would you like something to eat?"

"I get it," Rachel said to herself, "you spoke without thinking, didn't you?" Anthony laughed uncomfortably at that and repeated, "Would you like something to eat?"

Rachel smiled again, "Can I really have something to eat?"

"Of course you can," Anthony said instinctively, "couldn't you eat whenever at the orphanage?" he stared as she shook her head. "You couldn't?" he asked rhetorically, "Wow, you _have_ had a hard life…. I'm sorry!" he said in reaction to her hiding her face in her long purple hair again, "I didn't mean it to sound like that, I mean…um…well, you know what I mean, don't you?" he asked in a small voice.

Rachel granted him a tiny view of her face and nodded slightly. Grateful for the reprieve, Anthony hurried to his little kitchen. "I'll make you a grilled cheese sandwich, then, shall I?"

He didn't see her as he cooked, but if he had he would have seen the first _genuine_ smile that had ever graced Rachel's face.

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Fortunately the nearest doctor, Dr. Wrassel, knew Ella and her charges well, and didn't ask many questions about why there were so many injuries in an orphanage. Unfortunately for Cameron, this also meant she had a _very_ good idea about the source of those injuries for over two years. After all, when only one of the children has been untouched by those "suspicious accidents", simple common sense would lead you to expect that the child _is_ the suspicious accident.

"So how did this happen?" she asked. She took careful note of how the two in front of her looked at each other before answering, "I tripped on the top of the stairs and fell to the foot of them," Cameron said quickly.

Yes, just a little too glib and unconvincing. "I see," she said flatly, "Well I will set it, of course, but I'm curious as to how it broke so cleanly. If you'll look at these X-rays, you will see that there aren't any hairline cracks radiating from the break. Even in the cleanest breaks you find evidence of strain from the muscles resisting the pull of the bone so as to reduce the damage, but this break is more like someone took your arm off with a razor-sharp edge and somehow missed the muscles and skin. It makes the scientist in me very curious as to how it could happen."

Ella and Cameron nervously shifted their feet until Cameron decided on a factual account, despite Ella's urgent hiss to the contrary. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said flatly.

"Is that so?" the doctor said, "Why don't you try me?"

Cameron looked at her with a hard look in his eyes. "Would you believe me if I said it was magic?"

The doctor chuckled. "Other than the fact that you're a pathological liar," she said over his squawk of disagreement, "no, I _still_ wouldn't believe you."

"So you might as well just take the cover story and do what you're told."

Dr. Wrassel pulled herself up to her full, impressive height, and said formally, "If I was not a doctor, I would agree. But the thing is, the doctor is the one in charge when it comes to the hospital; the doctor _gives_ the orders, he or she does not _take_ them. You may leave: we are done here."

Cameron was incredulous. "But you haven't put my arm in a cast yet!" he said with a squeal.

"Exactly," the doctor replied coolly, "when I am treated in such a fashion, I only diagnose: I do not cure. You will need to find a doctor willing to take your crap if you want that arm fixed. Good day." She completed, shaking the hand of his broken arm deliberately and turning a deaf ear to his screech.

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Rachel couldn't believe it. First her life had been the ordinary, everyday nightmare, and then it was suddenly the best thing she had ever experienced, though that wasn't saying much. After eating the gooey, cheesy sandwich Anthony had given her, she had curled up without undressing or getting under the covers, and immediately fell asleep.

The very next morning she woke up and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling until the simple fact seeped into her mind: _she had been asleep._ Even better, she had slept _well_. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in, she didn't know, forever probably. And the mattress was the softest thing she had ever slept in. Including that section of floor in front of the fireplace that suffered from wood rot at Khale. She was about to roll out of bed and bitch to herself about having to get up when she realized that she could sleep in as long as she wanted. _Oh my,_ she thought, _this really is the best._ With that comforting thought, and the comforting weight of Garfield's furry back pressed against hers, she fell asleep again. Only this time, she crawled under the thick covers.

It was noon when she woke up fully, and Anthony wasn't home. Panicking at first, she dashed out of her room…_her_ room, no one else's…and saw a note on the door. He probably already knew she could read.

"I hope this note finds you before I come back," the note began, "because I would feel silly for writing this if you don't. If you need any food, you can look in the fridge. I'll be back at 5:15 tonight. Make yourself at home!"

She choked up a bit at how genuine it was, and happily inspected the fridge for a meal.

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Balefully glaring at Ella from back seat, Cameron cradled the newly splinted arm delicately. Why hadn't she shown more concern for him? He was _Cameron_, and although he didn't talk about it, he felt that he must be the center of the universe. No other explanation of himself was acceptable.

He was so busy glaring daggers at her back that Cameron didn't notice where Ella was driving to until she parked next to a large, black building. She got out swiftly and turned to him. "Are you getting out on your own or am I bringing you out myself?"

Snorting, Cameron rose slowly and exited the car. "What is this place?" he asked without real interest, "It looks abandoned."

"Well it isn't." Ella replied.

"So what's here?!" Cameron said in an extremely surly tone, "What nutjobs would live in such a rundown place?"

Ella turned her back on him and walked to the corner, beckoning. After he caught up, hating the fact that he had to take her orders, she replied, "These 'nutjobs' are the people who will find Rachel for us, and you better not let them hear you say that because even though it is true they will kill you for it." The sweat suddenly started pouring down Cameron's face.

"A-are you sure it's safe to go to these people?" he asked nervously. Ella nodded and said, "As long as you behave yourself they will listen."

They slowly walked to the battered door and Ella knocked. Suddenly they heard a voice come seemingly from no where, but was evident from the tinny quality to be coming from an intercom. "I see you: come in and don't touch anything," the voice said.

After the door closed behind them they saw a long staircase to their left and a hallway in front of them that had doors all along both sides. "Take the stairs to the top floor," the voice said, "and follow the hall up there."

Slowly they stepped up and heard them creak. Cameron had expected them to be dusty but instead they were polished to the point where the slightest of lights would reflect with such brilliance as to blind them. At the top they headed down the new hallway and heard the voice again. "You will open the 8th door on your right and wait outside the next door. I will call upon you there." The voice said.

"How does he know where we are?" Cameron said petulantly, "I don't like mysteries."

As they opened the designated door, the voice sounded again, "I can see you: that should be answer enough. And as to your comment…little boy…" Cameron bristled at that, "What if _you_ are the mystery in question?"

Cameron smiled a wolfish smile as the inner door opened. "I like that very much," he replied.

The silhouette of a broad-shouldered man laughed softly. "Very good," he murmured from behind the broad desk, "Your request is granted, Mrs. Swaggart. The team will be ready for you as you leave the premises."

"That's it?" Ella asked, "you didn't even ask what I wanted…and you haven't even told me the payment you want for the job. Who are you, really, anyway?"

The man placed his open palms on the desk as he stopped his bodyguard with a look. "You want my team to retrieve a young girl with uniquely purple hair: that much was simple to discover. As for payment, that boy is enough."

Ella stiffened. "What?" she asked in surprise, "What do you mean?" She didn't want to lose a child to retrieve the other; given a choice she would have opted to keep Cameron.

"He won't leave the orphanage: he will simply be required to work for me, and that work will most certainly extend past the point where he leaves the orphanage."

"Wait a minute," Cameron said with a deep rage growing, "Don't I get a say in this? What if I don't want to work for you?"

"That is what I like to hear," the man said, "But from what my people have told me about you, and from what I have seen myself, you will most _definitely_ find the work…pleasurable. And for now you may call me Wilson."

Cameron frowned and crossed his arms. "If I'm going to work for you, I want to know your real name."

The man scowled and folded his own arms. "Extortionist," he growled, "If that's the case then this information does not leave this room, is that clear?" Cameron hesitated, then nodded.

"I wasn't lying about my last name...but it's Slade."

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Rachel had just begun to think her life was actually going to succeed when one Saturday, watching an old movie with Garfield and Anthony, she was interrupted by a business-like rap on the door. She had been so absorbed by the movie that emotions had fallen into the recesses of her mind. Otherwise she would have been warned and vacated the house as quickly as possible.

"Now who could that be?" Anthony asked, and opened the door.

That simple action led to welter of confused action. A group of toughs poured through the door immediately, followed by Ella and Cameron. "The girl comes with us!" one man said, and the others grinned. In an instant a roar came from Garfield, a roar that was many times too loud for a house cat. Turning swiftly everyone suddenly saw that he was now a tiger.

With a snarl he pounced on the first man and tore his head from his shoulders, then he turned to the others and proceeded to tear them apart as they stumbled over each other screaming, trying to get away from the terror.

Anthony and Rachel stared in horrified shock as he completed his grisly business. Ella could be seen running as fast as her little legs could carry her, and there was no sign of Cameron.

Garfield, in tiger form, trotted up to Rachel and nuzzled her cheek, but Rachel turned away with tears in her eyes. "That was horrible," she whispered, "You're horrible."

_I did what was needed to protect us._

"But you could have done it without killing them!"

Garfield's ears drooped and he changed back into house cat form. It was strange, because it happened too fast for any detail to be seen, but it seemed that everything shifted at once: too fast for it to be entirely formed by thought.

Shaking, Anthony said quietly, "Maybe it would be best if you and Garfield left Manhattan."

With tears in her eyes, Rachel nodded reluctant agreement. At least Garfield would be there, although at the moment she wasn't sure she would like that.

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I'm sorry this took a little longer to upload, but I'll try to do better. It doesn't help that I have more than 20 ideas for other fanfictions, either! I will be going on a trip soon so don't expect the next one too soon. However, that means a lot more will have been written by the time I get back, so your patience will be rewarded!


	4. Once Upon A Time In New York City

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Teen Titans...but I should...GIVE IT TO ME! Please? Ah, damn it, it was worth a shot.

A/N: I apologize that the chapter is shorter than the others yet took longer to get up, but a three-week trip, combined with other interests and a mild case of writer's block, brought the creativity to a low ebb. I'll try to do better next time.

**Mind and Body Chapter 4: Once Upon a Time in New York City**

Rachel's face had sunk back into its normal, blank expression in an instant after Anthony had decided it wouldn't be safe for her to stay. Garfield peered at her face as Anthony packed up a good supply of food and one of his old sweatshirts. "It'll be cold at this time of year, so you should have some layers." He said in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Rachel snorted and took the backpack brusquely.

"Where's the ferry landing?" she asked, having learned what method she would be using minutes before, "I should get going before anything _untoward_ happens."

_You mean _we_ should get going, of course._ Garfield reminded her.

She managed a smile and nodded. "You're right; _we_ should get going."

Anthony shuddered at the implication of the one-sided conversation happening in front of him. He would never get used to it. He straightened and spoke again, "It's on the sea front about 15 minutes from here to the north. But I will drive you there, so it wasn't really necessary to know…." He was cut off by a flat look from Rachel. "No," she said, "I do need to know: I don't want you to drive me there. It should only be about an hour by foot and I don't want to be around you more than I have to be."

He was brought up short by that, and subsided. "I get it," he said, "I'll just give you the tickets then and let you go."

Rachel nodded, took the tickets, put them in her pocket and strode out of the door with Garfield, leaving Anthony to wonder if he had done the right thing or the easy thing.

Looking at her face under the hood, Garfield could see and sense the enforced frown holding back her tears.

The day was cloudy, and even though Raven's mind was uncertain, she found herself striding forward with assurance. Garfield trotted at her side until they had gone for a couple blocks and asked _May I ride?_ Rachel stared at him until he explained, _I would like to ride in the hood, is that okay?_

Rachel hesitated, but realized she was wearing two hooded sweatshirts, so she raised the inner one and let the other hang down. Garfield jumped to a shoulder and curled up in the proffered hood, saying _wake me when we get there._

After 60 minutes of walking she turned a corner to arrive at the port. It was a little smaller than she expected, but still large enough to hold fifty small ships, about fifteen larger ones, and the dozen ferries that took passengers no farther than the mainland. She slowly walked over to the ferries—not out of fear, as she was relieved to be leaving Manhattan, but out of a sense that she couldn't quite explain. A weight descended on her shoulders, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was responsibility. She now had responsibility for where her life would lead.

It was a heady feeling.

She walked up to the gate and handed over her ticket to the man blocking her path. He glanced at it, nodded, and told her to go to the third ferry on the right. She lightly stepped on the creaking wood and steadied herself at the slight swaying. She swallowed and started walking a little quicker. The pier's bobbing unnerved her a little, but she made it to the gently rocking boat sitting on the steely gray waters and boarded. _Careful,_ Garfield said in her head, _there's a couple people here that would hurt you to get what they want._ Rachel nodded, she could sense the sailor that was smoking outside of the door wanted to "put her in her place" for no discernable reason, and the woman who was about to exit the same door had a remarkably well-guarded mind. She said as much to Garfield, adding the simple fact that they were in more control of themselves than Cameron had been, so there was nothing to fear. _Well,_ Garfield chuckled, _you certainly didn't need me for that one, did you?_

Rachel's mouth twitched and then she remembered the incident that had precipitated her escape from Khale. _Garfield?_ She asked mentally, _There is something you could help me with._

_What is it?_ He asked curiously.

_I seem to have another ability that I didn't know about before._

_Ooh,_ Garfield said in fascination, _What is it?_

_Well, I don't know what to call it, but I kinda broke Cameron's arm…without touching it. I think Anthony used the word "Telekinesis". Anyway, that power isn't like the thought-sensing I usually do, because I can hurt things and people in the outside world with it. _She shuddered at the thought. _I need to be able to control it, because if I don't…._

_You might destroy things you don't want destroyed,_ Garfield completed, _that's a problem, all right._

_How do you control your power?_ She thought to him as she walked to the outer rail, _yours is frightening enough, how do you stop it from doing something you don't want?_

_Well, I mostly focus on preventing it completely and only let it out when I need it. Usually it does what I want._

_That won't work for me,_ Rachel thought, _this thing inside me seems to be stronger than that._

After thinking about it for a moment, Garfield started at the sound of the whistle but relaxed as the ferry slipped its hawsers and was on its way to mainland New York. They turned to watch the place of their birth fade into the distance but never quite disappear. Garfield mentally sighed, _I don't know how to help you, I'm afraid._

Rachel rubbed the bridge of her nose. At the sound of a woman's voice behind her, saying "Are you alone?" she whipped around, accidentally wrapping a small section of the metal railing in black energy and twisting it away from the rest. Rachel, hoping whoever it was hadn't noticed, looked at the woman and let it drop.

She was slightly less than average height, wearing a brown suit dress and medium-high heels, her chocolate hair was done up in a ponytail and a black shoulder bag was resting against her side as she adjusted slim glasses on her aquiline nose. "Are you alone?" she repeated, and Rachel realized this young woman was the one who guarded her mind as if she was around Rachel's type constantly. Because of this, Rachel believed she would be helpful.

"Yes," she muttered.

The woman nodded absently as if she found nothing wrong with a 6-year-old traveling the ferry alone, and said "Why don't we talk?' Rachel was so startled by this that she followed the woman to a couch inside the ferry's main cabin without complaint. "My name is Amanda Holder, what's yours?" the woman, Amanda, started immediately, Rachel gave her the answer, and Amanda nodded again. "I'm a psychologist, which means I help people who have problems in their minds, and I noticed that you are disturbed," Brushing over Rachel's bemused silence, Amanda continued, "As I am Christian, I believe in good deeds, and I would like to help you."

Rachel stared, and turned her thoughts to Garfield, _What do you think?_

_I don't know,_ he replied silently, _normally I would say it's too good to be true, but she's not lying._

_How do you know that?_ She asked, baffled, _her thoughts are too guarded for me to make out any intentions._

He mentally smiled, _body language has nothing to do with how guarded the thoughts are, and everything to do with the intentions. Even if her mind guards her secrets, her body screams them to anyone sensitive enough to listen. For now we can trust her, but you should be prepared to change that in the future._

Hearing Amanda talk on the way to New York was not entirely what Rachel would have expected, as she seemed to find pleasure in announcing the mental problems that people around her suffered from. Apparently her job was all about that, so she had simply decided to get paid for her pleasure. She was not a nice person, but she did offer a room in her town house until they could find something else, so Rachel reluctantly accepted the offer.

Upon landing in New York, Amanda immediately took them to a taxi that brought them to a large, square, brown building. The condominium inside was ordinary, but nice, and Rachel prepared to search for a way to leave New York and head west: she didn't want to be anywhere near Manhattan.

The next day, as it was five thirty in the afternoon, Rachel was woken up by two voices, one of which she recognized as Amanda's, talking quietly. Silently slipping from under the quilt she shushed Garfield's sleepy grumble at her back and peered out. The visitor's mind was jumbled up in such a chaotic manner that Rachel could immediately see why Amanda's mind was guarded: even people without her talent would be badly affected by the presence of a mind such as this.

At that point Amanda noticed her in the doorway and smiled quickly before turning back to the man in a beige suit. She asked him what the last thing he said was, and he answered reasonably enough, but Rachel could see the truth: his thoughts never settled for more than half a second before moving on to the next subject, and there was hardly ever any logical progression. The battering of so many random thoughts gave her a headache until she tuned in instead on Garfield's waking dreams. Thinking to see him chasing a mouse, she was surprised to see instead a closed door that was seen from a remarkable angle—near the floor, as if she were lying on the floor and looking nearly straight up. It was bright white and featureless except for a tiny window in the upper quarter. There was also a smell that was vaguely familiar. It was sharp and clean, but had a slight chemical tinge to it. However, despite its familiarity, Rachel was not able to put a name to it.

Rachel shrugged, sat on the bed, and started to scratch Garfield behind the ears. He purred in reaction and thrust his head under her hand. _Oh that feels good,_ he thought, _more, give me more._ Rachel stopped and went to pull her hand away, but Garfield woke fully and grabbed at her hand with his paws.

At that point Amanda entered the room and—like before—immediately started talking. "I know you may not like this question," she began, "But there must be a reason for your secretiveness. Before I leave for my party, I would like one favor from you."

"What is it?" Rachel asked suspiciously.

"May I see what you look like?"

The curiosity was not surprising, but Rachel still wasn't prepared for it. After a moment's hesitation, she lowered her hood. Amanda's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. "My my," she murmured, "I see why you kept your hood up. Well, this makes it a little easier to explain: I occasionally get a sense from people that they can do things that are…special. I don't understand the feeling myself, but I got it from you in greater amounts than ever before." She shook her head slowly in thought. "In other words, I _know_ that you have a surprising ability, and my curiosity will not allow me to leave the exact nature of it a mystery. I'm afraid I must take a liberty with you: please tell me…_what can you do?_"

Rachel froze.

There was no way she could tell her…not only would that be directly against her survival, but she would never believe the truth. So should she lie? Or not say anything? Desperately she tried to pull herself together after this fright, but her vision was blurred; she couldn't make out anything _outside_ of her head clearly, let alone analyze her own thoughts.

Then, in the midst of her unthinking desperation, Garfield slipped from her side to her lap and gently rested his head against her leg. This simple act of reassurance was enough to calm her down slightly, but she was still confused.

_What should I do?_ She asked Garfield silently.

_I don't know,_ he said quietly, _but I'll tell you what we _don't_ do: we don't tell her the truth._

_You're right: I'll lie first because she won't take silence for an answer—_

_Wait a second!_ Garfield said urgently in her head, _How do we know she really has that kind of power? The kind of power that lets her know who else has talents?_

_What do you mean?_

_I think you should ask her what makes her think you have a power._

_Isn't what we're doing now a power?_

_But does she know what we're doing?_

Realizing that truth, Rachel finally looked directly at Amanda and could feel, just for an instant, her thoughts. It was surprise: obviously the color of Rachel's eyes had unnerved Amanda far more than Rachel's hair. That glimpse into Amanda's mind was enough: in this house, Rachel was nothing more than a scientific curiosity. Amanda had not become aware of Garfield, as her fascination with Rachel had blinded her to other oddities, but the glimpse wasn't enough to confirm whether or not she had her supposed power. Of course, if Amanda didn't have any real awareness of her own power, then Rachel would not be able to discover it anyway.

She took a breath that she attempted to conceal, and murmured, "What are you talking about? Why would you think I can do something…special?"

Amanda clapped her hands impatiently. "Come, come, there's no use in lying: even if I didn't have those flashes of insight, it is painfully obvious now that you are unique and have unique abilities. You have confirmed it yourself."

"What?" Rachel said in honest alarm, and she blurted out, "How did you know?"

Amanda looked at her with a smile that seemed more practiced than anything. "My dear, translating body language is my job."

Garfield jerked at that and Rachel gaped. "As you now know," Amanda continued, "I will not accept a false answer, and I am afraid I cannot allow an unknown power to bunk in my guest bedroom."

"Is this an eviction notice then?" Rachel said.

"If I don't know what you can do, then yes." Amanda revealed an iron-hard will with that single sentence.

Rachel sighed. "I can…protect myself. I can stop things that are about to hurt me."

_Excellent,_ Garfield thought, _mix a little truth into it._

"Hmm," Amanda murmured to herself, "A force field…. Liar."

Rachel drew herself up at that. "What can you really do?" Amanda asked piercingly. Rachel sighed in defeat. "I can see people's thoughts; I can read minds. Or I can when it's unguarded: I can't read your mind, because it's protected, and I can't read the mind of something that doesn't have one, like the insane or a plant. I can't control it: the information comes to me freely. I can't stop it."

In silence, Amanda stared at her. She rose, the pink cocktail dress rustling about her knees, and took out a small cosmetics unit. She dusted her cheeks as she mulled the startling truth over in her mind. However, even now Rachel could not pierce Amanda's defenses, and she couldn't help but think that the ability many would kill for had no advantages, and far too many weaknesses.

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A/N: Oh, and you know that "other interest" I was talking about? Well, its name is "Hunter X Hunter", and if any show is as good or, dare I say it, better than Teen Titans (El Gasp!) then it is that one. So _adios, amigo, _and I hope you have fun reading. Seriously though, if there's anyone out there who is tired of watching shows that are widely known and wants to see a hidden gem, then do yourself a MAJOR favor and check out "Hunter X Hunter".

Its low-profile reception is strange, too, because it comes from the author of Yu Yu Hakusho.

Anyway, I'll stop advertising and leave you to your entertainment.


	5. Being Used and Using Others

Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans.... Seriously, does it need to be said?

**Mind and Body Chapter 5: Being Used, and Using Others**

The next morning, Amanda woke Rachel up with a knock on the door. "Rachel, get up, I want to have a talk with you." Rachel, however, was busy dreaming with a thick comforter of green and purple check curled tightly around her body. She also had a large, green cat curled up next to her, so in her mind nothing was going to get her up except perhaps….

_Splash!_ Suddenly the two of them were soaking wet and freezing. Rachel bolted upright and tried to scream in shock, but the ice water restricted her throat so she was only able to make a thin, high and weak squeak. Garfield, however, had no such restrictions, and dashed from the bed at full tilt, yowling at the top of his lungs.

"Get that cat to be quiet!" Amanda hissed, "This complex doesn't normally allow pets, but the proprietor allowed it this once!"

"Garfield, shush!" Rachel whispered, "There are still neighbors sleeping!" and Garfield instantly stopped, knowing he had almost thrown their cover. Amanda breathed a sigh of relief and set her bucket down by the door. "You should know by now that I'm an impatient person, and I don't use words if they won't work."

Shivering violently, Rachel peeled open her eyes as her arms wrapped around her chest. She saw Amanda wearing another business suit and skirt that was black, unlike the first one. She took a light blue, plastic bag from her other hand and tossed it with a soft thump at the foot of the bed. "Get into these clothes and come out for some breakfast: I have something I want to talk to you about."

Hesitantly Rachel opened the bag to find a full set of clothes neatly folded inside. As Amanda left and the smell of almost-cooked oatmeal arrived, Rachel gratefully changed her underwear, put on the black jeans that happened to fit her almost perfectly, and slipped the black turtleneck on over her night shirt. Slipping on the serviceable black shoes that she had been given by Anthony, she stumbled out of the room rubbing her eyes. Suddenly she remembered her hooded sweatshirt and turned back. But surprisingly, another hooded sweatshirt was also in the bag. Grateful, she slipped it on over everything and made extra sure that it hung forward far enough to conceal her eyes. Then she took a deep breath, allowed Garfield to hop onto her shoulders, and walked into the dining room.

She was greeted by a large bowl of oatmeal with some berries on top, and she sat down to eat. Amanda leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table and her hands cupping her chin. She had a pensive expression on her face that was faintly tinged with anticipation. She took a long, slow breath and let it out just as slowly. "Your power…I've been thinking about it and I've decided it could be very useful to me in my job. I could do a lot more good with you aiding me than without it. I was hoping you could turn that talent to my benefit, as repayment for the room and board."

"The room and _board_?" Rachel asked, confused.

"It's just an expression for the food, bed and other necessities. So, what do you say?"

"I suppose I have too," Rachel grumbled as she stared at her no-longer-appetizing meal, "or I'll be back on the street, _won't I_?" Amanda shifted uncomfortably before nodding.

Quickly, so she wasn't at risk of embarrassing herself further, Amanda asked how she liked the clothes. Rachel shrugged, and said, "They're fine. I don't care about color: only that it works. But that isn't what I want to talk about: just what is it you wanted me to do?"

Amanda sighed again in frustration. "You're too smart for a six-year-old, you know that?"

"I'll take that as a compliment. And your answer?"

Leaning back in her seat, Amanda folded her hands in her lap and set her highly polished shoes on the edge of the table. She crossed the right foot over her left foot and looked at Rachel over the top of them. "While it is my job to read body language and extrapolate from the evidence what my client is having the most trouble with, it simply isn't reliable enough to make my job predictable. Your ability, on the other hand, cuts straight to the chase."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, and thought, _My talent even _has_ an advantage?_

"Of course your talent has advantages," Amanda and Garfield said at the same time, though it was in different methods of communication. "Lying never works against you," Amanda continued, oblivious to the amusing echo of her first statement, and you are able to see what mental problems my patients might suffer from. You can tell me what they are so I am truly helping them: think of the good we would do!" Her face lit up in anticipation, and Rachel couldn't help but smile in response.

"In that case," Rachel said, "You should start by calming down that friend of yours: have him play a couple games of golf or something to focus on something unimportant."

Amanda just looked at her, a slightly puzzled look on her face, until the light went on in her head. "Oh, the man in beige?" she laughed when Rachel nodded, and continued, "he's not a patient, Rachel: he's a colleague. He helps the people with problems, so he doesn't suffer from them himself."

Rachel shook her head, "If you're not willing to listen to the truth when it's staring you in the face, then I can't help you."

"Well, Charles—the man you saw—has been complaining about stress lately, maybe a vacation is what he needs. But seriously, my concern is with my patients: those are the one's you should be diagnosing."

Rachel shrugged and stood up. Suddenly Amanda looked at her watch and jerked upright. "Oh my! It's almost time for my first client!" She got out of the light-colored chair and zipped over to the living room, where she sat at the desk opposite the door. "Come, Rachel," she said urgently, "stand on my left, and as the people come in you can suggest the problem to me."

_She's getting a little bossy,_ Garfield said in irritation, _shall I teach her a lesson?_ "NO," Rachel said severely, ignoring Amanda's startled stare, she still remembered the last lesson her ruthless companion had meted out. Garfield shook his head sadly, and murmered, _You're too soft: if you don't want people to treat you badly, you need them to know what will happen to them if they do._

"And you're too hard," Rachel retorted, still unaware that Amanda's eyes were continuously widening as the conversation she could only partially hear continued, "You can't just…you can't…." she took a breath and forced the sentence out, "You can't simply tear off a couple of heads and expect the rest of them to take a hint!" Amanda went a little green about the gills as the comment reached her. She made herself listen further, however, hoping to get a hint about what the girl had been through. It went without saying that it wasn't pretty. "You have to give people another chance!" Rachel was on a role now, "If you can handle a problem without removing someone from the picture then things really are better for everyone!"

_I get, it, I get it,_ Garfield said in impatience, _Geez, you talk too much. I won't kill her, or even hurt her…this time. But if she insults you again, she'll be missing _something_ afterward. If you could tell her I said that, then you can leave whatever part I'm targeting first up to her imagination._ After a pregnant pause, he added an afterthought, _and if you wouldn't mind skimming her mind as she thinks of it and telling me what it is, the threat will be that much more effective._

Amanda stared at her in curiosity. "I take it you can read animal's minds as well?" Rachel looked at her sharply and blushed, the red not contrasting well with her white skin and purple eyes. "…" she replied, and Amanda chuckled. "From your body language, did he threaten me with something?" although she hid it well, she was clearly nervous about the answer.

"Oh yes," Rachel said, "He wanted to kill you for your impudence. I convinced him otherwise." She winced, and said, "He has a lot to learn about keeping control of his abilities, and so do I."

"Hmm," Amanda said as she set her hands on the table and cocked her head to the side, "Maybe if you focus on an object in your mind you can block out thoughts."

Rachel stared at her in surprise and Amanda smiled faintly, "Although I don't know much, the mind is my specialty. What sometimes works for my patients might work for you."

Rachel thought about it, her brow furrowed, and Garfield nudged her leg with his head. Looking down at him, she saw a light in his eyes that seemed surprisingly like happiness. _I think she's right, Rachel! This might be exactly what you were looking for!_ Rachel smiled and Garfield purred his joy as he jumped onto the table and sat on Amanda's papers. _What?_ He asked in response to Rachel's blush and Amanda's exasperation, _they feel good there: why shouldn't I sit on them?" _Then he looked at the angry Amanda and sighed, _You two are no fun,_ he mentally pouted, _can't you take a joke?_ Then he rolled his eyes as if giving up and jumped down. _By the way, I think the first client is on the stairs._ He zipped over to the kitchen and leapt on top of the heat shield above the stove as Rachel turned and sensed the approaching person.

"Well," she said to Amanda, "Whoever it is, they're at the door." And in the same instant, a polite knock rang out.

"Come in," Amanda said in a business-like tone, and the door opened to admit a slouch-shouldered man in overalls and a grease-stained shirt. Discreetly, Amanda plugged her nose to the smell, and as Garfield bristled his tail in reaction she asked him his name.

M' name would be George, ma'am, George E. Furze. M' friend Fred said you were good at the helpin' of mind problems, so I thought…." He trailed off as Amanda nodded absently.

"Oh yes, Mr. Furze, I remember your problem—" Amanda was distracted by Rachel whispering in her ear. "I don't know what his problem is," Rachel breathed, "but it has nothing to do with his mind: his thoughts are clear, logical and easily explained."

"Well obviously you don't have the previous information," Amanda said quietly, "The file on him says he is suffering from a decent case of ADD."

"Huh?" Rachel said.

"Attention Deficit Disorder," Amanda explained, not caring that George could hear her, "It means that he can't focus on one thing for too long."

George, knowing only that she was trying to help him, added at that point, "Tha's right, it's stopping me from completing a couple of the construction jobs I've been commissioned to do."

Rachel quirked an eyebrow at him from under her hood, "How long can you stick to a project?" she asked.

"Oh, only about four hours," was the answer. Rachel turned to Amanda and smiled slightly.

"See what I mean? Perfectly normal."

Amanda looked at her hands uncomfortably. "Your jobs don't take longer than that usually?" she asked.

"Mostly they don't," George said, "but sometimes when a house needs a full overhaul, or a new one is being built, it'll take a couple weeks without the interruptions of my ADD."

"And with them?" Rachel asked, "How much longer does it take with those interruptions?"

"Oh, er," George paused as he thought about it, "Hmmm…well it's…um…why, it doesn't take any longer!"

Amanda looked at him in confusion. "Then why do you give up on the projects?"

"I guess I'm just lazy," George said in a good humor, "an' that's funny, b'cause my friends call me stubborn." He grinned, his teeth gleaming whitely in a ruddy face, and turned to Amanda. "How much were y' plannin' on charging me?"

"Well, I," Amanda said, stunned, she hadn't had a case react so well in 5 months, and that one had taken 3 hours to handle. It had mostly been luck. She shook herself and said, "Well, I was planning on 60 dollars…going by…past experience…."

The man happily counted out the full sum and held it in his hand. "Seeing as it was done without drugs, and I'm sure I won't feel sick after a talk, I'd be willing to pay twice as much, but as it is…." He handed the money to Amanda, and gave another ten to Rachel. Whistling as he picked up his cap, George left the house with a new spring in his step.

Amanda stared at Rachel and said, "…Well…that was surprising. I guess you were right."

_Isn't that why you hired her?_ Garfield thought, and Rachel couldn't help but chuckle.

"What did he say?" Amanda asked,

"He said that it was the reason you hired me, after all." Rachel smiled and then blinked. "Wait a minute," she said slowly, "How come he's not surprised about money?"

_I've seen humans exchange it for just about anything: it's one of the few systems they've come up with that I approve of._ When Rachel translated this, Amanda nodded pensively. "When it's explained that way," she said, "then his understanding makes sense. But Rachel," she continued, "this means he is no ordinary cat—or at least, his color isn't the most remarkable thing about him. He must be about as smart as people: and that's supposed to be impossible."

"Believe me," Rachel said slowly, "I know that better than you ever could."

An hour and 7 more satisfied patients later, and Amanda was enjoying her best day in years. Rachel refrained from saying it, but the problems of these were about the same as George's: there was almost no difficulty in finding that all their problems were mostly imaginary. It seemed that all they needed was an urge to simply act on their own tendencies. And Rachel had earned money as well: it seemed George and his kind were perfectly willing to pay the real benefactor, and she had earned an astonishing 91 dollars that morning. _If I can do this wherever I go,_ she thought to Garfield, _then money will never be a problem._

_That, and it feels good to do good. _Garfield added.

_Yes, that too._

But she was about to learn just why the job had few professionals. A stumbling footstep made itself known as Rachel snacked on a candybar; thinking it to be another ordinary client, she let her mind follow habit and latch onto the other.

The contact almost made her through up. It had a familiar ring to it completely apart from the utter jumble of thoughts, and before he ha even knocked she was prepared for the sight of Amanda's "business associate".

His beige suit was crisp and neat, his slender face was in a neutral expression, and his white suitcase was held casually in his right hand but, also like before, he hopped from thought to thought wildly and clearly was unaware of his surroundings.

She shuddered as Amanda walked out and took his suitcase. "How are you Charles?" she asked.

"I'm just fine, Amanda, though I am a little tired. My morning client was a tough one: I just couldn't find the problem." He sat heavily on the dark couch and put his arms on the back. Staring at the floor he grumbled to three pairs of attentive ears—two of which he didn't know existed—and the complaints that issued forth were patently absurd.

"No matter how much I dug, the only thing that came up was a silly little argument he had had with a sister. Nothing that might explain his ADD, and he wouldn't tell me any other problems."

With a groan at his density, Rachel spoke up for the first time in a long time. "Respectfully, sir," she said sarcastically, "don't you think that could be because that _WAS_ the problem?"

Charles glanced at her in surprise and turned to Amanda, ignoring her outburst. "What's this?" he asked Amanda, "I didn't know you had a niece?"

"I don't," Amanda replied, "She's a girl I picked up off the streets just yesterday: I found her to be quite helpful today."

Charles snorted. "Well, that does explain her brazen tongue." Then he turned to a fuming Rachel, and said in a condescending tone, "My name is Charles Masterson, and I have a philosopher's degree in psychiatry as well as three years of experience. I got the highest grades in my class and you believe you know more about the subject than I? Don't make me laugh: you're a child and you need experience to find the right touch with each new client."

Rachel gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes as the edge of her vision tinged pink. "What did you say?" she growled as, involuntarily, her hooded sweatshirt started to flutter in a ghostly wind, and she quickly focused her mind on an image of green fur. She sighed with relief as the power faded away, and realized she had taken the first step to controlling her power. She deliberately ignored Charles's cold chuckle and carefully explored his mind.

Surprisingly, by holding back as she had a moment before, she was able to back out smoothly. She re-entered his mind and discovered that she was able to filter the wild thoughts with concentration, and focus on only a single subject.

By keeping her own wits about her, she was able to mute the stomach-churning aspect and find the thoughts that pertained to his college days. Smirking, she mentally condensed the information that had come after his medical degree—she knew she wouldn't be able to understand it—but she grasped a basic truth about those classes and mentally smiled. Overjoyed with her successful control, she backed out once more.

Her eyes were slow to translate the physical images at first, as Rachel had become used to seeing with mental eyes, but in a couple seconds her vision had faded back into being. In front of her, Charles was still glaring at her with small, close-set and beady black eyes that reminded her of a rat. The image was made more accurate by the fact that, as the images had shown her, he had been an utter suck-up in school, reporting the slightest mistake of his classmates as serious offenses to ensure he had the top grades.

With a slow smile she stepped foreword and said quietly, "You know, the little games you played on your classmates won't work on me."

"What?" he blinked in surprise, "What makes you say that?"

"Only the fact that being a snitch isn't a very effective way of bringing down those who don't make mistakes." She said lightly with a shrug. She ignored the jerk of Charles's shoulders and knew that her search had not been in vain. "Besides," she continued, "If you really did get high grades, then you would be able to tell me how ADD is cured."

Charles stumbled over his own tongue for a while before he was able to choke out, "Well actually, I, that is, there are many opinions about what helps best. Each has certain merits, and one can never truly discard any of them as possibilities…."

"Are you saying there is no reliable cure for this disease?" Rachel asked, as she knew full well from her search that there wasn't, "What about the other diseases? Are you fooling the general public about those too? All you're really doing in this job is getting people to fear everyday occurrences, isn't that right?" she said casually. Charles' face began to be frightened. "While you may have become a doctor first," she continued, "All that was actually accomplished was to complete the required number of courses without any real work. You intended to live a life of luxury by riding on the budgets of more honest people and to say you were helping when all it was doing was to keep them under your foot! You're a fraud, the whole profession is a fraud, and you know it!" she shouted, "Just how much of it is helpful, mister? I'll tell you: the answer is no—"

"Stop it!" Amanda screamed from behind her, Rachel turned in surprise to see her holding shaky hands to her ears and crying copiously. Rachel's eyes widened, and turned to look at Charles, but the image now more closely resembled how he was on the inside: violently ruffled and highly erratic. "Rachel," Amanda choked out, "What…what do you think you're saying? We're helping these people: we really…*sniff* we really are, or we are doing our best. Just please, stop saying such things."

Rachel frowned sadly. She hadn't meant to catch Amanda up in it; apparently she had a lot to learn about using another's thoughts to influence them. It was something she would need to learn to control.

Charles stood up shakily and left swiftly with a fearful glance over his shoulder.

_Wow,_ Garfield said, _I didn't know you had it in you to be worse than me._

_Neither did I,_ Rachel thought with a shiver.

The day slowly started to move again, but even though she was able to help many more people, and collected a little more than 100 more dollars, Rachel couldn't help but remember the power she had wielded over Charles after the little exploration. With a shiver she realized this new aspect of her original ability was probably more frightening than the telekinesis. This "work" was doing more than help people, it was giving her an iron grip over every person she met. It frightened her that she had such control over other people.

With that in mind, she slowly ate her dinner and quietly went to bed.

She lay down and hugged Garfield tightly, burying her face in his green fur as he licked her cheek in sympathy. She didn't know what to do:should she stay and earn money? Or should she leave immediately—rather than eventually, as she had first planned—so that she wouldn't risk reducing other people to pitiful shells of themselves?

_In the end, the choice is yours._ She sensed Garfield's explanation. She sighed, _Yes, I know the answer._ They couldn't stay there. She quickly took out a pen and a piece of paper, wrote a note to Amanda, and began packing up the money and new possessions she now had. A flashlight, some travel food, a mirror, some tough twine and a kitchen knife found their way into a small satchel before she slipped out the door under Garfield's guidance.

It was remarkably easy to slide the door open without a sound and appear on the balcony only to slip down the stairs, and she followed the glow of Garfield's eyes down the cast-iron steps. Upon arriving at the base of them, she looked back up.

It hit her then that she was truly meant to be alone: everything she did ended up hurting the people around her…except for Garfield. She was beginning to rely on his presence like no other: always an uncaring voice that was used to the world's difficulties. He was untouchable by her harsh words, as he simply did not care what others thought of him. He had no such illusions that he had to be liked by others, so he was thoroughly comfortable with the real him.

She could definitely learn from that.

The next morning, Amanda woke and walked with wild hair to her coffee machine. Gulping down a cupful as black as a coalmine at midnight to recover from the previous night of tossing, turning, and mulling over Rachel's harsh words. She then fumbled in the pantry for a large muffin and took a large bite of lemon-and–poppy-seed-flavored pastry before going to Rachel's room.

Whatever she had planned to say vanished when she saw the bed had not been slept in. A quick run around the house revealed some missing objects, and it wasn't until she returned to the guest room that she spotted the note pinned to the pillow. She snorted and said, "How cliché: the note on the pillowcase. Wait a minute, that means…!" she ripped it off the pillow and read:

_I'm sorry for the pain I caused you yesterday, and I realize I have stolen some of your belongings, but I can't stay in that house with those rules, and I left half of the two hundred dollars I earned to repay you for the objects and your hospitality. You don't need to worry about me either, because even I can't take care of myself Garfield will do it for me. Good bye, Amanda, and I hope you'll be happier with me gone._

_Rachel._

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A/N: I'm pretty proud of how this chapter turned out, but what do you guys think of it?


	6. Many Shapes But a Single Purpose

Disclaimer: .... You Get The Picture. I may have forgotten to include this in previous chapters, so to reassure you, this was simply because I'm in denial on who really owns this show. It's not me. That's what I'm in denial about. So just read this chapter, and please tell me you wish I owned it to!

**Mind and Body Chapter 6: Many Shapes and a Single Purpose**

Recap:

We were introduced to Rachel and Garfield as well as Cameron Cole and Ella.

We learned about the Khale orphanage.

We learned about the zoo and we learned a little bit about each of the characters.

We met Anthony and learned what happened to Phil.

Garfield and Rachel met.

Garfield had a run-in with Cameron.

We learned about Garfield's philosophy.

We heard of "The Chief".

Cameron nearly killed Rachel and broke his arm because of it.

Rachel abandoned the orphanage.

Rachel went to Anthony and was taken in for a while.

Cameron got some of what was coming to him and they got "Wilson" to help them search.

Wilson's team found them. However most of them were killed by the tiger-shaped Garfield. The rest disappeared. They were asked to leave.

Rachel and Garfield encountered Amanda Holder on the ferry and stayed with her for a while.

We learned the practicalities of mind reading.

Rachel and Garfield wrote a farewell letter to Amanda, and vanished into the night.

THREE YEARS LATER

The evening was icy cold and lightly snowing on the shore of Lake Michigan, and in an alley near the center of Chicago, a bum encountered some very strange beings. One, a nine-year-old girl that refused to let him see her face, was crouching behind the dumpster with her head leaning against it's side. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and was keeping them there with her hands while burrowing her face between them. However, the really strange one was the green Maine Coon that was staring at her from her side.

"What is it, Garfield?" the girl said with a dejected tone in her furry voice.

Although he couldn't see what just happened, the ragged old man could tell that she had gotten an answer because she immediately replied "Why should I cheer up? At first I thought I could support myself with that ability, but not after what happened. And without it, I'm no better than any bum."

With a blink, the man knew that she could read minds. It was obvious, really, since the cat hadn't _said_ anything, but she didn't act like a nutcase. He smiled as the girl jerked up her head to stare at him.

"Why're you staring?" she asked sullenly, "and how did you figure out what my power was?"

Rachel stared suspiciously at the man as he sighed and sat across from her. "You were holding a conversation with a cat: how else is that possible?" he asked.

"I could be crazy," Rachel muttered.

"But you aren't, are you?" he asked pointedly. As Rachel let the silence stretch, he stood back up and stretched his muscles. "I have a nice fire going, if you would like to share?"

Rachel turned her back on him and snorted. "If I did that, it would be like I had given up trying to improve my lot."

He groaned in exasperation. "You have a lot of bitterness for this world, I see, and it must have at least something to do with your talent. I promise you that I won't hold anything against you unless you deserve it. Come: the cinders will have cooled before we return. Just because you haven't given up doesn't mean you can't take comfort when you find it."

Rachel snorted again and said, "but you haven't been anywhere near a fire for at least six hours: more than enough to lose all the heat in the coals when it's this cold."

He stood still as he processed the statement. The thought had never crossed his mind, so how had she figured it out?

"I may not have been able to read that part of your memories," Rachel said in response to his unspoken question, "But the smell of paper smoke clings to your clothes for a long time: Garfield smelled it about the same time as you arrived."

He laughed heartily at that and sat back down. "You are right of course, "

He said conversationally to Garfield, "Do you mind if I ask…what else does my scent say about me?" After waiting a little while, he turned to Rachel and asked, "What did he say?" as if having an intelligent conversation with a green cat and having a nine-year-old girl for a translator was commonplace.

Staring at the odd, red-and-silver-haired man in front of her, Rachel changed the subject swiftly. "I didn't catch your name?"

"It's Cael Baldwin," he said immediately, though it was clear he really wanted an answer to his question, "and if nothing else, you can trust me to keep your ability a secret."

Rachel groaned as she shook her head, "Fine. He says you're clearly having a more difficult time now than ever before and are prepared for things to get even worse. He says you are a kind and understanding man who knows when to leave things well enough alone but cannot resist helping where it is needed. He says you have had enough adventure to satisfy half-a-dozen other people and that you can take care of more than your fair share. He says also that there's a mysterious scent about you that he has never smelt before…." Her eyes widened as Garfield finished the thought, "He says that the closest thing he has ever smelt to it is me. Is that true, Garfield?"

_Yes, it's true, you ninny, why would I ever lie to you?_ He widened his eyes so as to look like a kitten and mockingly let his ears and tail go limp. _Little old me? LIE? To you? I'm hurt._ Rachel couldn't help but chuckle, unknowingly setting all the loose pebbles in the alley to vibrating within cloaks of black energy.

_Finally,_ Garfield said in satisfaction as Cael stood up with a curse. He was staring in consternation at the rocks around them. Her cheeks glowing with shame, Rachel curled up even tighter as the rocks rose up to about five feet from the ground. Cael was quivering with something on the verge of excitement as he stared around him. "Remarkable," he murmured, "Your power is greater than I thought."

He saw Rachel trying to disappear and smiled affectionately. "You don't have to be frightened of me, my dear. Didn't your friend tell you that I help above all else?" Rachel didn't answer. A tic appeared in the man's forehead. "Listen," he said darkly, "the way I see it, you can continue to mope while your power develops to the point that you rip a house up from it's foundations every time you're startled, or you can learn to control it."

Startled at his harsh words, Rachel looked up sharply as the rocks shattered, as if to prove Cael's point. They were contained explosions though, so all that left the patches of black were thin streams of sand that drifted down on the small breeze. Then the patches faded. Her natural instinct to strike at anything threatening her turned dire in that instant as Cael himself was the next thing to be wrapped in black energy. Luckily for the suddenly terror-stricken old man, Garfield's frantic yowl brought her to her senses.

Rachel gently let Cael down as they both shuddered at how close she had been to killing him. Cael was sweating as he stared at her. "I-I'm sorry…for what I said." He murmured.

"No," Rachel replied, "I'm sorry: you were trying to get me to see sense." She hugged herself tightly as she said, "You don't know how many I've killed accidentally that way in the past three years. I…I," she shuddered and sniffed thickly, "I killed them for almost nothing, I'm horrible!" She started to cry, biting her lip in a failed attempt to hold the flood back. Her eyes were squeezed nearly shut as she forced herself to continue, "I'm worse than Garfield was when I first met him!" She hardly noticed Cael's arms encircling her comfortingly as she poured her heart out to the man she had just met.

"How come I can tell you all this?" she asked in a hushed tone among her tears, "I've just met you, yet I'm telling you things that I didn't tell the people I knew for years…." Cael shifted so that his left arm was free and his right rested soothingly on her shoulders. He took a deep breath as he shook his arm in preparation to leap off the proverbial deep end.

"It's because…I know how you feel." Rachel stared at him wide-eyed as he stretched his hand out in front of them. Garfield started violently when the trash immediately to his right burst into flame. He leaped out of the way into Rachels lap and suddenly morphed into a mouse, shocking Cael in turn, at which point he crawled into the collar of Rachel's hood, trembling.

"The cat has a power too," Cael murmered in a hushed, amazed tone. "I am truly among those who understand."

Garfield quickly changed from mouse form to ferret form and peered out at Cael from on top of Rachel's head. He sensed that Rachel was surprised, but not scared, so he slowly slid out from inside of the hood to sit directly on top of her head.

He stared with beady green eyes at Cael, who nodded that the flame was meant to aid, not harm. Garfield slid off of Rachel entirely, and dashed to the basement window across from them. Using his teeth he impressed Cael by opening the lock and sliding stealthily down to the basement.

As the two of them stared down after him, Rachel asked, "How did you become a bum? If you can do such an amazing thing?"

Cael sighed and shook his head. "How come you became one?" he asked. Rachel stiffened in anger and Cael was quick to pat her on the shoulder. "I didn't mean that as an insult. I am merely saying that our kind…" he slowly looked at the small fire he had started, and extended his hand again to wrap a large tendril of flame around his hand. It spun around and through his fingers as agilely as Garfield would have in his ferret form. "Our kind are not generally accepted by the world at large."

"You think I don't know that?" Rachel said sullenly.

"Of course not." Cael said quietly, "Some years after I had discovered my ability, when I was 39, I tried to save a family with my power. I had hoped to restrict the flames burning their house to only around myself, as I had learned I was immune to it, but my concentration shattered when a man rose from the ashes to attack me with a knife. On instinct I thrust the entire fire into the man's face, incinerating him in an instant. I later learned that the man had been the father of those I was trying to save." Rachel stiffened in horror.

"In court the next week, all my worldly possessions were handed over to the bereaved, and I was shattered at what I had done. Accidentally, maybe, but I had still done it. I couldn't summon up the strength of purpose that would have prevented me from becoming like this." At that moment, when the two of them had suddenly understood the other clearly, Garfield popped back up from the nearby basement.

This time he was in the form of a spider monkey, with a dowel clutched tightly in his tail that had six plump rats stuck on it. He whipped himself into his original shape so as to drop the stick in front of Cael. Then he turned into a lemur and hopped up behind Rachel's head, keeping a tight grip on her ears. "Well," Cael said, as he set up the dowel to roast the result, "just how many forms do you have?"

_Whoah there, how come I understood the words out of your mouth as well as you body language?_ Garfield said nervously with a combination of low-volume hoots, yips and tail twitches. Cael chuckled and replied, "I didn't mention that I can speak primate? Silly me."

_Well then, we should have an interesting conversation. Rachel, do you mind if Cael and I go off on our own for a little while to have a chat?_ Rachel's eyes showed that she felt a little betrayed, but Garfield walked over to her with a look of such kindness that Cael's breath caught. He morphed into a puma, causing Cael to leap back for the fourth time that afternoon, but all he did was sit next to Rachel and shove his forehead against Rachel's cheek, purring thunderously in the back of his throat. _I am never going to leave your side, Rachel._ Garfield said flatly, _and don't you ever doubt that. Outcasts have to look out for each other, right?_

"Right," Rachel said, and grabbed him around the neck. She shoved her head into Garfield's shoulder and shuddered again. Amazed at the connection between them, Cael said, "You know, the way I control my power has actually been used by priests of the Far East for thousands of years with good results. Do you think you might want to learn?"

"Oh, could I?" Rachel asked in joy, accidentally crumbling a number of bricks from both buildings in an instant. Ignoring Garfield's pleas for a vocal conversation, Cael began immediately.

"All right, the first thing I want you to do is cross your legs and put your hands together. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as it's comfortable." Rachel nodded and took that position. Her hands seemed to fall easily into place in the shape of fists facing one another. "All right," Cael continued once that was done, but he was interrupted by a repeated muffled thump from where Garfield was.

Garfield fidgeted in the form of the puma, bounding from side to side in impatience as Cael focused on Rachel. _Come on, come on, come on! _He said in the same whiny tone of an 8-year-old who really wants to go to the beach, _It's finally my chance to be a main character in our little life story! I don't want to miss it!_

Cael scoffed in frustration. "Oh be quiet, it'll take longer with all that yowling until I can have that conversation with you." When Garfield paused and Rachel explained, Cael said, "Besides, haven't you been Rachel's companion since basically the beginning?" At Garfield's shrug he said, "Well I would think that would make you a main character in your life story already, wouldn't it?"

Awkwardly laughing at the image he must have been giving, Garfield sat down with all four paws and said _Understood, making a fool of myself is not on the program._ At Rachel's laugh, Cael asked what it was, and when it was explained he chuckled as well.

Turning back to Rachel he said, "All right, I want you to close your eyes and rid your mind of all the surrounding interference except my voice: that will be the only thing you let through." Rachel was sweating as she furrowed her brow. "No, no," Cael corrected, "That's not the right way to go about it. Relax, breathe deeply and let it go. Let blackness cover everything in a peaceful blanket. Remember you are looking for the state of mind where my voice is the only thing that exists. Nothing else."

She sighed a long, deep sigh as everything vanished like the morning dew. The only thing was Cael's occasionally harsh voice. Her breathing became more full and smooth as she felt the temperature fall away, and the harsh stone below her melted away. She was swimming in a comfortingly warm darkness. It enveloped her like a mother would her child.

Outside Rachel's mind, Garfield and Cael stared in astonishment as Rachel's body slowly rose from the ground. "How do you feel?" Cael said quietly.

"Excellent," she whispered.

With a smile, Cael went on. "Now I want you to take all the things within your mind and separate them from each other. Take everything that fuels your anger and set them aside. I want you to create an image of yourself which you think demonstrates your rage the best, and pour all your hateful thoughts into that image." Rachel sighed again when she did that. "Now do that for the rest of your thoughts: what makes you sad? What makes you happy? What have you done without thinking about it? Take it all and lock them in separate images of yourself. I want you to give each person an identifying mark, so you can easily choose which one to let guide you in different situations. Have you done that?"

At her nod Cael stood quietly. "Now all that's left is to continue developing the differences between those images. Continue doing that whenever you can and you will have control of your powers at the other times. Eventually it won't be necessary, but it's always good to keep a little meditation in your schedule."

He turned to leave, but halted when he remembered something. "Oh, by the way, if it starts to get difficult, you can use a phrase to focus on and aid in the separation process."

Rachel felt three seemingly nonsense words rise from the depths of her mind. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos.

A shiver of something akin to exultation crawled up Cael's spine. "What made you think that?" he asked in a tone he hoped sounded casual.

"I…don't know." Rachel muttered in confusion, "They just kinda…came to me." She shook her head and settled back into the rhythm.

Quaking, Cael left, and Garfield took the form of a colobus monkey to ride on his shoulders.

Outside of the alley, Garfield asked him _why were you so excited by that gibberish?_ Cael jumped and muttered "None of your business."

_I think it is my business, if it is important to Rachel._ Garfield said seriously.

"Well I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

_Fine, be that way._

After they had been traveling in companionable silence for a time, with Garfield on Cael's shoulder while still in the form of the Colobus, the older man suddenly shoved one of his horny hands into a deep pocket. "I just remembered something I've been saving for a while," he said quietly, and brought out an odd little wheel of white with red stripes swirling out from the center.

_What is it? _Garfield asked in curiosity as Cael handed it over.

"It's candy."

_Candy, huh? You mean like to eat?_ he was turning the candy over and over in his small green hands and inspecting it closely.

"Exactly." Cael answered. Garfield's eyes brightened and he quickly nibble a little bit of an edge. His tail stuck straight up and frizzed when the sugar hit his system. _Whoah!_ He said in reaction, _it's tingly! It may look fake, but damn does it taste good!_ Cael couldn't help but laugh at the reaction.

"Those are perhaps the cheapest things on the market: only a nickel each."

_You're joking. They're so good, but you can get them for so little?_

Cael grinned inwardly. He was right: Garfield's mind was far from ordinary as well, if he could understand money so well. They were walking past a stall that sold many sweets when Garfield srang down from his shoulder. He dashed to the counter, hopped up to the right corner, and sat down abruptly. A young boy was at the window, staring wide-eyed at the strange animal on his father's counter. With a giggle he dashed out and started inspecting Garfield.

Hooting slightly, Garfield held up half of the sweet to show the boy. The boy grinned and ducked under the counter to bring out a small bag. He opened it to give one to Garfield, but Garfield took the bag and set it down on the counter. As he crouched, Garfield started staring at the boy's nose. Giggling, the boy stretched his hand out and started petting him. Garfield started belting out low, deep hoots to surprise him. Needless to say, it worked.

Chattering with laughter at the surprise on the kid's face, Garfield reached out with a hand and lightly grabbed the boy's nose.

He grabbed the bag and bounded away from the boy's grasp. "Hey!" the kid said, "I was only gonna give you one!"

_No way, kid, _Garfield said with amusement, _I am not about to give these up._ He looked at the kid with deliberately cute eyes, and the kid melted. "Oh, all right. But no more!"

Garfield hooted with gratitude.

The next thing Cael showed him was a small book about animals. "I wanted to know the extent of your power," he said quietly.

_Oh is that all?_ Garfield said cheekily, _well it's like this: any animal I see, I can then become. However, I will always be green. That's it: that's all there is to it._

"And what if you saw a picture?" Cael asked. Garfield sat up straight at that. _Hmm, I've never tried. After all, I might forget to put the heart in there._

Cael blinked, and then said in disbelief, "You mean you have to remember _everything_ about the animal in order to turn into it?"

_Well, not exactly._ Garfield said hesitantly.

"What do you mean?"

_Well…instinct kinda fills in the gaps. I only need to see the surface._

"Then pictures should be no different."

_I guess I could try it,_ Garfield said reluctantly, _but not now. There are too many people around._

"Oh, right, I'd forgotten." Cael said in embarrassment. But then he remembered the other idea he had had. "Well, can't you take on the form of a human?"

Garfield was very still at that comment. Every muscle stiffened and froze, so it was almost like he was staring at a snake. Cael couldn't help but think he had stepped into a major issue for the shape shifter.

_Yes,_ Garfield said quietly, _yes, I can change into a human. But not for long, because holding that shape is extremely painful._

"Really?" Cael asked in surprise.

_Yes, it hurts far too much to hold the shape of a human. It's as if a dozen foxes are slowly eating me alive._

Cael winced at the graphic metaphor, and how it must feel, then continued. "How about if you only changed the voice box to correspond with a human's?" Garfield grinned slowly as the potentials dawned. _You mean so I can speak English?_ He said, carefully keeping his other thoughts hidden.

"Yes, precisely."

_Let's try it right now!_ He said with a great show of enthusiasm, _It's really annoying to only be able to talk to Rachel, or…I mean she's great, but other people have things to offer too, you know?_

"Yes, I guessed that." Cael said in amusement as he stopped at the park. He lay down on the grass and Garfield concentrated momentarily, but after a couple minutes he shook his head. _I'm sorry, but it looks like I can only have one form for the entire body._

_"_Are you sure of that?"

_What do you mean?_

"What if you _do_ have to remember everything for a specific body part?" Cael sat up and brought out yet another book from his seemingly-endless pockets. He opened it to a certain page and showed it to Garfield. "If you can remember all this, I suspect you will be able to do it.

Garfield leapt into study excitedly. Luckily there were many images, and he had picked up a lot of reading from Rachel reading him _Wicked_, so he actually got through it with decent speed.

Feeling that he was embarking into the unknown, Garfield slowly digested the new information. He looked to the voice box first, immersing himself into a study of his own body. After he had made a few slight adjustments he felt his form slide into the one most familiar to him: the Maine Coon. After that he found it easier to alter his lips slightly so they could operate separately from his jaw, and reduced the little flap of skin hanging in his throat so that it wouldn't interfere.

Slowly, as he felt a little weak from such detailed and deliberate work, he opened his eyes and looked slowly looked at Cael staring expectantly at him. Coughing experimentally, he asked….

"Did it work?"

He started in shock at the sound of his own voice. Then he pulled his ears back in fear that he got it wrong, but after a couple seconds he realized that it hadn't been a fluke.

"It worked…." He said in a hush as Cael's smile slowly grew to encompass his entire face. Then he said it again to savor it. "It worked." It had a carefree, silly quality to it that somehow didn't make it sound stupid. It fit him perfectly.

"It worked! It worked! IT worked! It WORKED!" he shouted for joy as he bounded back and forth around Cael. He stopped in front of the surprising old man and shoved his head against Cael's arm. "Thank you." He said with unadulterated joy.

Cael petted him. "Congratulations," he said proudly, "I honestly didn't know if it would work."

Garfield bounded back and shifted from Maine Coon to another type of house cat, and tried again. "Does it work in other forms?" he asked himself, and danced when he found out that after the first time, changing the voice box—or not changing it, as the case may be—was easy pickings afterward. "I have got to tell Raven about this—" he said before being interrupted.

"Wait, who?" Cael said.

"Raven, of course…wait, I mean I need to tell Rav--, I mean Ra…. Rash…. Rachen…UGH! Rachel! Why was that so hard?"

"I'm not sure," said Cael, "But that does make a good code name."

"Code Name?" Garfield asked in curiosity as they both walked back to the ally.

"Yes," Cael said mildly, "There are a lot of people around the world with powers, actually, and many of them become heroes or villains on a wide scope. These people acquire code names to keep their identity a secret."

"You mean like in the Superman comics?"

"Yes, except that Superman's a real person."

"NO WAY!"

"Oh yes way, but he's the only one who has let people make his adventures into a comic strip."

"Then what about Batman?"

"Batman, and the others like him, hate the publicity, but for the sake of having people believe it's fiction, they leave it alone."

"I thought that Superman and Batman were the only "Super Hero" comics?"

"Yes, but they have friends or associates that share their views. No one has heard of most of them."

Garfield stared at him suspiciously. "And you know about them?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh yes, I do, I was once asked to join one of their teams."

Garfield couldn't help but shiver at the reality. Then he paused and said, "If you were asked to join the supporters of Superman, then why the hell are you a bum? Shouldn't you at least have a space in their lookout? And wouldn't the public be glad to welcome you?"

Cael sighed and shook his head. "Certain circumstances prevented me from joining, and when it comes to prejudice it hardly matters what you do to help someone. They will usually find a reason to blame you."

Rachel was adrift in the blank expanse of her mind, but she wasn't alone: she had made sure of that herself. She was accompanied by many copies of herself; she hadn't made any differences in them yet, but she felt she could get to that later: the sheer relaxation that meditation brought to her was amazing.

"Rachel!" A voice shouted in the distance, surprising her. "Rachel!" it repeated "It's so amazing! Rachel, guess what happened to me!" It was warm and friendly, but also extremely child-like.

Rachel reluctantly started to back out of the meditative state.

As Garfield dashed over to her, he noticed that her hooded sweatshirt was limper than before. Worried, he slowed down and approached her, with Cael walking behind him. The next thing he noticed was that the fire had vanished, but the faint smell of smoke still hung in the air….

It was damp.

Someone in one of the apartments above them had seen fit to dump cold water over Rachel and the fire. In this weather it was practically a death sentence.

With a hiss and a snarl he dashed over to Rachel, who jerked awake at his approach. She said "Hi" in a dreamy voice before realizing that she was chilled to the bone.

She sneezed violently, starting to tremble in reaction. Cael's face went white at the sight, and Garfield started to tremble as well. "Don't worry Rachel," he whispered in English unconsciously, "I'll fix this." He turned and ran off, leaving Cael in the dust as he scrambled up the fire escape, still in his original form. When he reached the top he turned into a mountain lion and started leaping from roof to roof.

Cael sighed in exasperation. "Kids these days."

Garfield's was enraged as he leapt the twenty feet to the next roof. _Someone_ had wanted to kill Rachel. _His_ Rachel. And he wasn't just going to curl up at their feet and let that go unpunished. But first, he had a job to do. _I need some sort of blanket._ He thought.

Suddenly, at the next alley, Garfield was confronted by a forest of thin strings stretching parallel to each other from building to building. All the lines had clothes hanging from them. _Ah, laundry,_ he thought, _just what I need._

He shifted immediately into a chimpanzee and gripped a pair of strings. Swinging he gripped another two strings with his feet and swung upside down. Another string just below him had the perfect example of the subject of his search.

It was a large, blue blanket that had the feel of flannel to his hands. Easing down next to it, hanging by one hand, he was too focused on the blanket to see the silver-haired woman staring at him at eyelevel.

Keeping one hand on the string, he pulled the blanket off the string with his feet and gripped it in one of them as his free hand helped the other foot fold it into a more manageable size. The first fold over with, he transferred the task entirely to his feet, bringing them together and gripping both corners with the same foot. He repeated the process three more times, and wrapped it around his neck.

The woman shrieked, causing him to turn around violently, and she brought out, of all things, a shotgun!

She heaved it up into line with the stunned Garfield, who had frozen, and fired. She was so creeped out, however, that the shot missed a fatal spot and instead pierced his shoulder. Garfield screamed and swung, barely keeping his grip as the woman loaded another shell with shaking hands and warm green blood dripped down his right arm.

Many neighbors poked their heads out at the commotion, and were amazed at the sight. However, what happened next amazed them even more as the old lady prepared to fire again. She aimed…and fired.

Suddenly a small dagger-shaped white flame darted from below and to Garfield's left, melting the bullet as it left the gun's muzzle. The red hot liquid metal lost its velocity against the force of the flame, and everyone's heads turned to the white-haired source.

Cael stood there, an expression of implacable anger clear on his face. He then extended a large snake of orange flame to the window, and had it collect itself directly in front of the glass pane, preventing any projectiles or sight from penetrating it.

In relief, Garfield awkwardly swung down the strings until he had reached the alley floor. "I can see why Superman may have welcomed your help," he said wryly. Ignoring the compliment, Cael opted instead to chew him out.

"Are you insane?" he hissed, "Going off on your own into unfamiliar territory, staring a shotgun down the barrel in order to get a blanket? You didn't even know what you were looking for at first!" Then he abruptly collected himself and murmered, almost to himself, "Although that is the right mentality for a guardian of justice." He shrugged and rushed off, beckoning Garfield to follow him back.

Back at the violently shivering Rachel, Garfield limped up to her, sat down, put her in a large bear hug, and wrapped the flannel blanket tightly around her body. "Th-th-thank y-you, Garfield," she said quietly as she sniffed violently. Cael shook his head in concern.

"Hypothermia," he murmured, "I see it quite often in this area, and it's fatal a large amount of the time. We need a fire." He said over Garfield's whimper of concern. He immediately rubbed his hands together and created a ball of fire three inches across, which he tossed underhand into a metal trash bin at one end of the alley.

He dragged the bin over as the contents caught on fire, and had Garfield bring Rachel closer while still holding her in his arms. Rachel was wrapped so tightly she might as well have been a giant's newborn baby, but that, combined with Garfield's warmth and the fire's warmth was what was helping her recover.

Cael's eyes were narrow in thought when Garfield thanked him. _I need something to warm her up from the inside,_ he thought, then snapped his fingers. "I got it!" he said with a smile through his bushy beard. He rummaged in his giant pockets and brought out three things: a small grate that seemed to have its spars melted to the correct length to fit right on top of a trash bin, a pair of wooden prongs, and a can of soup. "This always helps."

He set it up and, when the soup was ready, brought out a pad and a spoon. Handing these to Garfield, he watched yet again in wonder at the worry Garfield was radiating as he fed a Rachel that was shivering too violently to hold the spoon.

After she had finished off the can, Rachel grumbled quietly into Garfield's fur. "This was the worst one yet."

"Yeah," Garfield said sadly, and held her a little more tightly. Rachel blinked and looked at his face.

"You look pretty strange as a chimp: I don't think you got the lips quite right. And why was your voice echoing?"

"Could it be because I'm speaking English?" Garfield said impudently, and grinned at her expression of astonishment.

"Really?" she asked quietly. Garfield nodded and Rachel smiled sleepily. "Wow, I guess shape-shifting makes it possible." She yawned hugely and whispered "Good night," before sinking into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Rachel woke up in a pair of giant, green, furry arms. For a second she panicked, then she remembered last night and immediately worried that she had hurt Garfield. Instead, she saw that nothing happened. This in itself was surprising, so she decided to test an experiment before waking him up. She glanced around her disturbingly narrow point of view, realizing that a giant blanket was what blocked her sight, and chose a stone about the size of her fist.

She focused on the stone and kept her eyes open as she imagined I trising from the ground. She couldn't restrain a chuckle of delight when the stone really did rise, cloaked in the same black energy that always appeared. Happily she sent the stone a full four inches into the brick wall she could see.

She retracted an arm from the blue, all-encompassing folds of the blanket and gripped Garfield's right shoulder, hoping to shake him awake. He woke up all right, but it was with a hiss of pain that also woke Cael.

"What's wrong?" she asked urgently, as she didn't want him hurt.

"My arm aches." He said.

Rachel frowned in sadness, but then realized that he had just spoken English. She tried and failed to struggle out of his arms in shock. "Since when have you spoken English?" She asked.

"Since the moment before you went unconscious," he said cheerfully, then took a shaky breath. "The reason I can do so fluently is because I've been listening to you speak it for three years."

Rachel bit her lip at the sight of the green blood, then stared at him. "Why didn't you tell me I'd hurt you?" she asked loudly.

"You didn't," Garfield said quietly, "I was shot at while going for the blanket."

She gasped and instantly climbed up to the wound to inspect it. "You idiot!" She shouted, and heard an echo of a chuckle from across the fire, "How dare you let yourself get shot at just for me? You can't be hurt!" she was totally freaked out at the possibility of losing him.

Suddenly she felt warmth on her hands, and when she looked at them a new energy was glowing around them. This energy was silver, and seemed almost cheerful. She had a fleeting image of a white cloak in the back of her mind and realized she should put her hands to the wound.

When she did so, she could sense that the shotgun bullet was still lodged in the bone of his shoulder. She winced at the idea and used her right hand to draw the bullet out, coated in black energy, and shatter it. Her left hand continued to shine with silver energy and, when she drew it over the shoulder, it caused the dead bone around the dent to revive, then grow back at great speed until it filled the space the bullet had left.

Trying to mask her shock at what she had done, Rachel continued to hold her hand to the wound, letting the silver light now light up the muscle. She almost threw up at the sight of the twisted muscle, but the feeling faded to be replaced by a fascination with how quickly the muscles reattached to each other, and the skin grew over the raw patch. After she was done, Garfield may have had a bald patch, but he was as healthy as he was before his desperate run.

In a curiously synchronized motion, they both collapsed and took a deep breath. Suddenly, Garfield reverted to his Maine Coon form and was barely able to stumble out of the way of Rachel's fall.

Quickly Cael hurried over and propped Rachel up, putting the exhausted Garfield in her lap. "It seems this new gift of yours uses both your life energy and the patient's life energy to heal wounds at an accelerated rate." He said to Rachel. Rachel nodded.

"Every time before when Garfield's been this exhausted he's reverted immediately to his default form, why do you think it was delayed this time?" She asked Cael.

Furrowing his brow furiously, Cael stroked his chin. Then his gaze cleared as he figured it out. "It must have been the bullet," he told the two of them, "My guess is that you cannot change shape if an object over a certain size is inside you: Garfield's body rejects the attempt because it would shift into an organ, mess up how it works and kill you."

Shuddering, Garfield weakly quipped, "Thank God for instincts, huh?"

"Instinct?" Rachel murmured, remembering the white cloak, "Yes. Cael? Do you think you could help me make this blanket into a cloak? With a hood, I mean."

"Sure," Cael said, puzzled, "But why would you want to do that?"

"Because I haven't been able to separate those other mes that you had me think up because I never wear anything but black, but if this was a cloak, then blue could be my default and the other colors would be for the other mes."

"Well," Cael said mildly, "I don't think 'mes' is a word, but it's a good idea."

"You know what I mean," she answered, "The other versions of myself that'll be in my head after this is done."

"Ah yes, I understand now." Cael replied.

"And the white cloak will be my Instinct." Rachel said firmly.

"As you wish," Cael said with his tongue in his cheek. "And I think I will travel with you two for a while."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked. It wasn't as if she didn't like the idea of another traveling companion, and his ability was remarkable, but she didn't want to think that she was forcing him to this.

"Oh I move around a lot anyway. Besides, that little adventure I had with you, Garfield, got my old blood moving again: I've begun dreaming about the good old days when I fought the evils of injustice rather than succumbed to them." He smiled, "You two children are the future: I can feel it."

Agatha Moore waved her hands as she shrieked out the story once more to her neighbors. They were no longer friends, as the "Green Chimp" nonsense was all she would talk about since the missing blanket situation two weeks before.

"I'm telling you that chimp was huge! And a vivid emerald green to boot!"

"Yes, you did tell us," her first neighbor said in defeat, "About 500 times already."

"Seriously," another neighbor said, "If you're so serious about this, call the guy who specializes in the unexplainable stuff."

"Oh, you mean that guy who's on the lookout for people with strange abilities?" Agatha asked.

"Well that is the guy, but it's not just people with strange abilities, it's any inexplicable trouble." The second neighbor said, relieved that Agatha seemed to be acting sensible for once.

"All right, I will!" she decided, and immediately went into her house for the phone. After she picked it up she stared at the key pad with her finger hovering above it. Silence permeated her apartment, then a blush slowly rose on her cheeks. She scurried over to the neighbor's apartment and asked, "What was the number again?"

He sighed, gave it to her, and shut the door.

Back on the phone, Agatha tapped her foot impatiently on the floor until the other end was picked up. "Hello? Is this the man called the Chief? Well? Is it?" She asked hurriedly.

"Yes," the warm voice on the other end said cautiously, "I am the one known as the Chief, I specialize in handling unexplainable trouble."

"Well I have an explanation, but no one believes me." Agatha snorted.

"What is it?"

"Well," the old lady said, "About two weeks ago my laundry was hanging out to dry and a giant green chimpanzee just popped up out of no where as I was washing the dishes. Then this monster ape snatched up my nice blue blanket with its feet, _folded it_ and went off, though I did manage to get a shotgun shell into it. But then the second shocking thing happened: I was about to get a second shell into it when a _fire_ simply appeared and melted it before it could reach. Then a wall of fire appeared outside the window! I was so scared! But it seems the missing sheet was the only damage. Can you come up with an explanation for that?" She stopped, breathless, and waited for an answer.

On the other side of the line, away from the speaker, a woman spoke to the man. "What do you think?" She asked him.

The white-haired man with a trimmed beard covered the mouthpiece with a hand and murmured, "You are right, it seems our little cat has escaped the bag."

"That's not entirely what I meant, Niles," she interrupted him, "Aren't you worried about the bullet? How it will affect him? And what about the fire?"

"Niles" stroked his short beard thoughtfully. "Hmm, I suspect he has found a fellow mutant that wishes to be a friend: that would explain the fire. But you are right, the bullet may have messed something up…though I doubt it." He uncovered the mouthpiece and said to the woman. "It's nothing for you to worry about," he said politely, only to be interrupted.

"Nothing to worry about?!" Agatha said in outrage, "Green chimpanzee! Missing blanket! Was my grandmother's! Nothing to worry about?!"

Niles rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Didn't this woman ever shut up? "It won't happen again, ma'am, there's only one green animal in the states and it is always traveling. It is perfectly probable that it will never do anything that affects you again, even without my team searching for it."

Agatha "hmmphed" and said, "Thank you then, I guess," and hung up.

-----------------------------------------

Sorry for the delay, but I've been packing to go off to college. Just to let you know, age won't stop me from writing this fanfiction or later ones. Besides, you get a chapter that is twice as long as the next longest. So, read and enjoy. Is it savory? Sweet? Bitter? Or is it filling? Please tell me what you think of this chapter, and look for the next entry. And actually, it wasn't the only thing stopping me: for a while there my computer couldn't upload this chapter. It could do everything else, it just couldn't upload one measly chapter. It WAS able to upload it once I changed the name, so I'm guessing someone among the thousands of other subscribers to this site had the same idea for a chapter. He or she only used it before I did. Ah well, great minds think alike, right?

But please, please review.

By the way, anyone else a fan of the website/webcomic ? Satire, cat people, no "furry" intention, just silly? If you haven't, maybe you'd be interested. Not everyone's part cat though. And this is the first time I've thought of blood and gore as silly. Some of the strips are just nuts.


	7. Friends You Haven't Yet Met

Okay, so this chapter is a little different from the earlier entries in that Rachel and Garfield have a much-reduced role. That's right, our main characters get a well-deserved rest from Candid Camera while we go on the grand tour of the west coast.

**Mind and Body Chapter 7: Strangers Are Friends You Haven't Met Yet**

SEVEN YEARS LATER

(Big skip, but not much exciting happened)

_The cell was dark and steely, while the door was joined so seamlessly that it seemed to not exist at all. The walls curved subtly away from the center and the ceiling continued the trend. In the center there was a slender figure dressed in a similar metal and had all four limbs immobilized by magnetized cuffs. The only visible part of the woman's body was the face, which had green eyes and orange skin, The look in her eyes was enough to make the target believe that no security measures had been taken: the level of hate was so remarkable that it would freeze you in your tracks._

_ However, this glare seemed to have no effect on the being looking through the clear panel. This being was even stranger than the first, in that he had scales, gills, and fins on each cheek as well as a larger one on the bare skull and webbed hands and feet._

_ When he spoke, the noises that came out of his mouth were unintelligible, yet the meaning was clear. "If you would simply accept the fate your father and my ruler's treaty decided for you, you would be free to go about the ship. However as long as you resist you must be kept in here. What do you say? Are you willing to concede?"_

_ The woman's reply, although it could also be understood, was an entirely different kind of unintelligible. "Never! My father would never have agreed to this and I will not submit!" Suddenly she lunged against the magnetic cuffs and managed to lift them from the floor to the point where she took a couple steps forward. With an expression of irritation the fish-man increased the magnetic pull by 3 times, bringing her back to her knees._

_ "Coward!" she shouted, "you never fight if you can keep an enemy helpless! Honorless Kalgorf!" Whatever this unique word meant, it was clearly highly insulting, as the fish-man pressed a button on his side with malicious satisfaction. An electric current ran from the generators, through the floor and up the cuffs to dump many thousands of volts into her._

Robin woke up with a scream. Almost immediately, his guardian Bruce Wayne opened the door. If he hadn't been shuddering with the effects of his dream, Robin would have laughed at the sight of his surrogate father, dressed in his vigilante identity of the Batman, yet being entirely in the attitude of his public appearance: friendly and slightly klutzy, but by no means the kind of material for a masked agent of justice.

"What's wrong?" Bruce said urgently, "If you're going to spend your night off the job by screaming and staring at the ceiling, you'll never get a good night's sleep!"

Robin sat up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Nothing," he said, "It was just a nightmare."

Bruce sighed and shook his head, settling back down and assuming his distinctly gloomy alter ego. "Then let's get you down to the Batcave to plan your recruiting scheme." He looked at Robin's confused face and stopped frowning. On Batman, that was the equivalent of a belly laugh. "I take it you forgot that this week is when we scheduled for Oracle's help appointing your debut team, Dick? You know, your first shot as leader?"

"Oh yeah! It is, isn't it?" Robin said, and hopped out of bed. He dressed quickly after Bruce had left, and hurried down to the Batcave, where his successor to the title of "Boy Wonder", Jason, was training while Barbara Gordon was seated in front of the central computer.

He winced inside as she turned around in her wheel chair. Before the Joker had told his killing joke to the Gordons, Barbara had been Batgirl, Batman's first unwilling attempt at a sidekick and the only person that he trusted as much as Alfred. Now she had lost the use of everything below her waist, and couldn't bring her lively spirit to the job of apprehending villains anymore. It was a great shame, as she provided a much-needed humor to the Bat-family, but she had proven at least as helpful in her new persona as Queen of the Internet.

"Hey, Oracle," he said awkwardly, and she smiled ironically at her new name.

"You're wondering how we start?" she said quietly.

Startled, all he could do was nod. Barbara shook her head at his amazement and explained, "When you receive a codename, it starts to grow on you. More than a title, it lends itself to the formation of your character in subtle ways that can't be tracked." She smiled bitterly. "Now if only I had a bit of my new name at that time, I might have known not to open the door."

"It is not wise to think like that, my dear," Alfred said from the elevator as he stepped out, "You'll stunt your growth."

"You're right, Al," she replied, "let's look to the future shall we? What are you looking for in your first team, Robin?" Surprisingly enough, she had whipped out a notebook despite the giant research machine in front of her. Everyone gathered around her chair as Robin began describing it.

"I was hoping that I could get people with real powers…no offense to everyone here."

"None taken," Jason said with a grin from behind them.

"Anything else?" Barbara asked.

Bruce interrupted at that moment, "I'm not trying to take control of this," he started, but Jason and Dick shouted "Liar!" before he could continue. "Okay,"he said, putting his hands in the air in concession, "maybe I am trying to manipulate this, but it would be best if the people you accept had a hidden addition to their powers: something that will cover an area where they are otherwise lacking with their main power. This would make them more able to take care of themselves in case you were separated."

"Very good, sir," Alfred said in approval.

"Wow!" was Jason's contribution, "That was actually smart!"

Everyone froze and looked nervously at Bruce. The Batman took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, Jason, it was. I am glad you were able to see that."

Barbara covered her grin with a hand at Jason's flummoxed look. "Hee hee hee," she chuckled as Dick tried to contain his mirth, "A woman might think you were being driven batty." She said to Jason.

Dick groaned, "Oh no, not the bat jokes again?"

"Sorry," Barbara said without the least hint of remorse, "I couldn't resist."

After deciding on Jump City as the site for Robin's new team, Oracle spotted an alarm. "Hey Bats," she said casually, "Looks like there's a robbery in that new Egypt exhibit at the museum. Want to check it out?"

"Well yes, I do," he said, "But this is just as important." Everyone stared at him.

"Wait, there's actually something you consider to be as important as stopping crime?" Robin said in genuine surprise, "I'm touched."

"Are you sure?" Oracle said enticingly, "The target seems to have been a solid Jade statuette of Bastet…." She gave the last word a suggestive lilt.

The side of Batman's mouth quirked upward. "The cat-goddess, huh?" he murmured.

"Go on," Robin said cheerfully, "We can manage without you." As Batman strolled toward the Batmobile, Robin called after him, "Oh, and tell your girlfriend I said hi!"

"She's not my girlfriend." Batman said stiffly over everyone's laugh. Even Alfred chuckled.

Down an alley in Jump City, with a dumpster on the far end and wooden walls on both sides, a sparsely-bearded man could be seen in silhouette crouching down in front of said dumpster. His hand leapt forward a couple times, disappearing behind the dumpster. It was clear to the hidden watcher that he was mugging someone. However, the screams that suddenly issued from that area was a lot shriller with pain than a simple punch could justify.

Suspecting foul play, the watcher chose that moment to attack. A large man enveloped in an even larger trench coat lunged from the shadows only for his target to turn sharply, startle, and run away. The watcher barreled down the alley too quickly for his prey to escape, and he grabbed him by the throat. When he raised the man in his grip off the ground, it could be seen that the arm was made of metal.

"You!" the thin man said in shock, "No wonder your scent was so sharp: you're the cyborg everyone's been talking about!"

"That's right," the watcher said as he lifted his hat to show that half of his black face had been replaced with a silver and pale blue metal. His left eye had been replaced as well. "However I do not know you: you will tell me or you won't survive this encounter. If you do tell me, then I will let you off with a warning."

The unkempt little petty crook looked at him with hooded eyes. "My name…. For now it's Ethan. Other than that, though, _I'm not telling you anything._"

As the cyborg's hand tensed to snap Ethan's neck, spines sprouted from his entire body. Including his neck. Cursing as the spines stuck in his partly-flesh hand, the cyborg dropped Ethan. Ethan seized the moment and ran again: this time straight up the wall as he rubbed his throat. When he arrived at the top Ethan looked down to see the man climbing after him. Impressed with his tenacity, Ethan asked "Just who are you?" as his spines mostly retracted to only remain on his face and joints.

Seeming confused at his question, the man paused. "Seeing as everyone calls me that anyway," he said after a moment of thought, "you can call me Cyborg." With that he gripped the window ledge in front of him and shoved himself up with such strength that he reached the roof with the first thrust.

Ethan leapt back in fright. As Cyborg stretched his arms—accompanied with a metallic creak—Ethan balled his right hand into a fist and brought it in front of his chest. Whipping the hand back to his side in a crescent arc, Ethan launched numerous spines at Cyborg and leapt to the next building.

Cyborg succeeded in blocking all the keratin spears, but when he lowered his arms the strange man had disappeared. Sighing heavily he sat down. "He could be behind any dumpster within the block now," he said to himself, "and he won't stop running." He knew he was only fast over short distances, but it still hurt when he couldn't stop someone who would have the capacity to do what had happened to him to another.

He flipped his left arm out of the sleeve and stared at the metal. Then he took a screwdriver out of a pocket with his right hand and started adjusting some parts. "I better get this thing up and running quickly: or getting people who are far away from me will always be a pipedream."

When he headed back down he spotted a curled up piece of paper on one of the fire escapes. Hoping, perhaps, that it would tell him where the man was going, Cyborg picked it up and opened it.

It was a black poster, with a yellow "T" within a circle of the same color. Below it, in large yellow writing, were the words:

"Are you dissatisfied with life being fenced in by your elders?"

"Do you have strange powers that no one around you understands?"

"Do you want to use these powers for the good of others?"

"Do you like working as part of a group, where everyone is equal and around your age?"

"If so, then perhaps you should think about joining a new team of super-heroes: the Teen Titans. The Tripoli Mansion on the corner of Simon and Garfunkel streets will play host to Gotham City's own "Boy Wonder" on the two weeks from September 8th to September 22nd. An in-person call to this residence between these dates will result in an interview with the boy and 'Oracle'."

And in small type it said: "Your first impression, your powers, and your answers to their questions will all play a part in the decision whether or not to let you join. Only four spaces are available, so if you feel you have a real chance of joining it is best to be there as early as possible. Due to the hours he keeps, Robin will interview you no matter what time you arrive: be it noon, five in the afternoon, or 2 in the morning. However, he will only be there for the dates mentioned. If some positions have not been filled by the end of this time frame, and you have not been interviewed, then the next call number will be there for you to use. You will have to schedule a time if this is what you end up doing. The site of the new team's facilities will be in Jump City, more details to be available the weekend of the 23rd."

Seeing red as he looked at the address, Cyborg crumpled the paper. "God damn it," he said quietly, "How dare he come to my city and do this: I'll kill him if that Robin thinks he can replace me!" He stomped off toward home, his fertile mind spinning as his large shoulders hunched aggressively at the mere thought of the Boy Wonder.

It was full sunlight on a warm day in Phoenix, and Raven was discreetly using her healing energy to care for a young boy's skinned knee in the square. As she was doing this Cael was going through with the fire-eating act he had come up with five years before for a large group of watchers.

The ceramic bowl between them was quite full of bills as they went through a string of routines that had been hammered out and smoothed through years of practice. First there was Cael's fire-eating, then there was Raven's "magic show" in which she simply recreated the circumstances of any card trick, then read her subject's mind to see what they had chosen. She was careful to keep the effects from her powers to a believable level, but they sure made it easy. She also used her healing for "folk medicine" whenever it was needed and her telekinesis could usually be explained away with strings.

She quickly bandaged the little boy's scrap and gave him back to her mother. "All done," she said.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked gratefully.

Raven flushed at that: she still wasn't used to being thanked, though she was nearly there. She also now knew that "free" was a price no one really wanted to hear, so instead she said, "It was only a scrape: five dollars would cover it."

Sitting on Raven's right, Garfield was growling slightly as he let everyone stare at him incredulously. _I hate this,_ he thought to Rachel, _really, I've always hated this._

_I know,_ Raven said in body language sympathetically, _but the money really helps._

At that time, a young boy careened across the square and bumped into her. "Sorry!" he shouted as he continued to run, "The little man over there frightened me!" Looking where the boy pointed, Raven and Garfield saw that there was indeed a little man there. He was wearing a strange vest with double breast pockets and jeans, but he didn't look that frightening. Also, Raven's could see in his mind that he had not scared the little boy: instead, he had hired him to give her something without being noticed.

Immediately she started searching the inside pockets of her large, blue, hooded cape that had quickly become the signature of her stage name. Sure enough, she soon fished out a rolled up tube of laminated paper. Instantly suspicious, she called to Cael, "Hey, teacher,"

"Yes?" he replied, after swallowing another torch, "What is it?"

"I'm afraid the show ends here." She said.

Cael smiled a rather silly smile and said, "But the show must go on, Raven, you know that."

She shook her head. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Cael, I have something we need to look at." Cael then saw that she was gripping something tightly in her concealed left hand.

"Oh, all right," he sighed regretfully, "This part is the fun one, though." He then turned to the audience. "I'm afraid that's all for today: I hope you enjoyed yourselves and don't hesitate to tell your friends about us!"

They grumbled, but the people did start to wander away. When there was no one else in the square, Garfield stretched out luxuriously. "Damn I'm happy that's over," he muttered as he changed into a Golden Lion Tamarin and hopped onto Raven's shoulder. He grabbed the sheet of paper from her pocket and opened it, muttering as he did so, "I hate being a show piece; it always makes me feel lifeless, like all I am is a sight to make sore eyes sorer. Hey, there's nothing on this thing." He said in a normal voice.

Raven was also a little confused by the blank white that meted their eyes. However Cael was staring at it in contemplation, puffing on a pipe he had purchased five years before. "It's on the other side, right?" Raven said wryly.

"_It_ is, all right," Cael murmured seriously, "this doesn't happen often: look on the other side."

What they saw was the same poster that had made its way to Cyborg. "An invitation to tryouts…" Garfield murmured, "To join a new superhero team? How did it even get here?"

"There was a man who arranged to get it to me through a boy," Raven said quietly, "I didn't have enough time to find his purpose, but I'm sure if we find him again he wouldn't be able to conceal it."

"What about any hints?" Garfield asked curiously.

"Well," Raven said slowly, "I did get the sense that he did not know who we were: he only knew that we had powers. That's probably what his power is: the ability to sense when others have powers."

"There's no point in searching for a man like that," Cael said reluctantly, "If he has any experience with his power he won't let anyone with our brand of power anywhere near him on anything other than his own terms."

Raven sighed "I'd like to get my hands on him, but you're right Sensei, we'll leave him. But this recruitment: what's it all about?"

Cael smiled broadly. "Like it says, it's an opportunity to meet your own kind, and do some good in the world. Almost everyone with an ability dreams of being a member of one."

Garfield flicked his tail teasingly, "Yeah, even me."

Raven frowned uncertainly, but she already knew the answer deep down. They would travel to this Jump City, and at the very least would observe what happened.


	8. Lessons in Humility

A/N= Me: "I don't…I do…do I own it? Or don't I own it? I…. I can't even say it. I'll let Raven do the talking. Would you like to do the honors?"

Raven: "This is just a little something that all our viewers should keep in mind—NOBODY OWNS ME, DAMNIT!"

Garfield: "You can own me, Rae, ;)"

Raven: "You're a cat, that's different."

Garfield: T____T

Cael: Now, now, Raven, you shouldn't hurt him like that; kitties are cute, right Gar?"

Garfield: "HELLS YEA I—why do you feel the need to do that? Let's just move on, shall we?"

Me: "I disclaim everything except Cael and the plot. The show must go on. Also, unlike the story up 'till now, I actually tried to be funny so the flavor will be slightly different. You could say Garfield's in his element."

**Mind and Body Chapter 8: Lessons in Humility**

"So then," Barbara said from her wheelchair at the door, "Let's get this party started!" Dick shook his head as they went side-by-side to the Batjet in their hangar. Its sleek black curves always made him smile, but after the next 3 weeks he would probably never get the chance to see it again, let alone ride in it.

His relatively few bags were already in the small storage unit in the back, and Batman was sitting in the pilots seat, tapping impatiently at the steering console—for all the world like an anxious parent who wanted to get his son out of the house before he changed his mind. Dick slapped Jason's shoulder in a friendly manner and said "I'm expecting you to take care of Batman, you hear?"

Jason grinned "I gotcha!" he said cheerfully. "I'll make the 'Boy Wonder' even more wonderful!"

"Good!" Dick said, "But don't forget that it's still my title until they forget that part and only call me 'Robin'.

Then Alfred walked up and squeezed Dick's shoulder. "Take care, young master," he said quietly, "And be sure to keep in touch: you know the Bat Signal's frequency, so it shouldn't be that hard." He shook his graying head slightly, "It is always difficult to send off one you have raised: just don't do anything foolish like not making other friends."

Batman cleared his throat meaningfully from the cockpit "If you don't mind, this jet does not idle well."

Dick quickly turned and walked toward his ticket out of the Batcave, and Barbara rolled at his side as she said to the other two: "Don't worry! I'll keep them both in line!"

"I'm sure you will!" Jason grinned wickedly, but didn't reckon with her reaction.

"You'll keep your mind out of the gutter, Jason, or I'll hang you upside down from the tallest stalactite in here and we'll see who's the bat then!"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said weakly as the cargo bay's door closed behind the two of them.

Outside, the cliff behind the mansion opened up long enough to let the Batjet launch at ½ the speed of sound, and as the hangar door slowly closed, Alfred and Jason waved quietly.

As the Batjet leveled out and slowed down above the police station, a black-on-black shadow whipped toward them. On instinct Batman veered slightly off course, but it still struck the passenger door. Dick looked back from the copilot's seat as Barbara, her eyes alight, opened the door wide enough to get a hand through, get a grip on something while supporting herself on the handle of her wheelchair, and bring it inside while the high winds whipped around her face. Both Dick and Batman were tense until the door closed again.

"Really, Barb," Dick said painfully, "Don't you think you could have done it a little more safely?"

Ignoring him, Barbara turned to Batman with a look of surprise. "It's for you."

"What was your first hint?" Batman retorted.

Barbara's eyes went flinty, but she took a deep breath. "I thought we were over that?"

Batman rubbed one of his eyes reflexively. "Sorry," he muttered reluctantly, "You know how it is, Oracle, with my instincts."

Her mouth quirked, "Yes, I do. What I meant when I said that is that there's a message on here."

"What?" they both said in unison. "Dick, take the controls." Batman said. Dick instinctively gripped them, but he said "Wait a minute, which way is Jump City?"

"Just keep going straight," Batman said brusquely as he unclipped his safety harness and moved back to see what was in Barbara's hand.

As he trained his eyes to the front and activated the radar cloak above a small town some 300 miles from Gotham, Dick couldn't help but grumble. "Even half-an-hour before we get to where I will no longer be a sidekick, and he's still treating me like a child."

Behind him, Barbara handed an amusing version of his own Batarang to the Batman. This one seemed to only be the head, yet magnified by many times, and instead of wings there were three stiletto-like protrusions on either side. Batman shook his head in disbelief: a cat's head? That woman was getting more blatant than usual. Where was her normal sneaky side? Wasn't that enough "cat" for her?

Then he saw the message, and for the first time in his long career, his Batman side smiled as widely as his Bruce side did.

_First of all, don't think I'm making a habit of this: I made this pretty little shuriken (so much better than yours, by the way) especially for this occasion._

_ I'm not gonna see your little friends again, (much better that way, don't they interfere way too much?) but when you come back, you would be interested to know that the musical _Cats_ is coming to town._

_ I personally loathe the thing—they don't give the cats respect at all—but if you're there you might have a little fun running down the Catty Lady who absconds with their entire net savings on the final day of their performance._

_ Is it a Date?_

_ S. K._

And underneath the initials, there was a cat's paw.

Batman sighed, "If word of this gets to the copilot's seat," he whispered to Barbara, "I'll never forgive you."

"I heard that!" Dick said.

Raven looked around as they arrived in yet another town. She sighed and said, "Just how long does it take to get to Jump City?" She skimmed the thought from Cael quickly and groaned. "You have got to be kidding me: a _month?_ I thought we were going to be able to catch it."

Cael sighed heavily as Garfield shook his head. "Raven," Cael said calmly, "You've relied on your own power so much lately, that you've forgotten to use logic."

"….You're right, aren't you?" Raven said, flushing, "Have I been an idiot?"

_Just a little bit, _Garfield thought as they passed a punk with Liberty Spikes, _and don't say this out loud, but that guy is far worse. Lime Green? Might as well dye your skin orange. Only an alien would think it looks good._

As they left the town, Raven calmed down. "I hate metropolises," she said irritably as the highway stretched off to their right, "the mass of minds makes me act like some sort of combo-platter being with so many psyches imposing on me." She shifted her attention to Cael and continued darkly, "And I hate not having a car even more."

"Hey," Cael said, "I had to sell the Sedona for enough money just to eat right after you cut my performance short. It's only because you were impatient that we're walking."

"Shut up, I could hear your thoughts."

"What does that mean?"

Garfield butted in at that point. "Hey guys look there." A rusted out pick-up was sitting among the tall grasses on their side of the road.

"Oh no," Rachel said angrily as Cael stared in disbelief, "No way am I fixing that thing: it'll fall apart again the next instant."

"Aw man," Garfield said, "can we at least see if there's a Habachi Grill in the back?"

"You listen to too much Jeff Foxworthy," Raven said menacingly, "One more 'you might be a redneck if' from you and I'll wring your little Red Neck to within an inch of your life." Then she corrected herself, "Even if it is green."

"Okay, okay," Garfield said nervously, "I understand. Maybe just one that I thought up?"

"Fine, but that's the last!"

"You always say that," Cael said with a chuckle.

"Ahem," Garfield said, "Excuse me, but the Maestro's working here." Ignoring Cael, he thought for a while. "What was it again?" he said after a minute.

"Just get it over with, you little beast!" Raven said in a bit of pain.

"But I'm a real boy!" Garfield shot back with his tongue in his cheek.

"Please!" Raven said, starting to cry a little in frustration, "Just end the movie quotes, finish your little joke and shut up for a couple hundred miles!"

"Oh, right," Garfield said after a moment, "Well, it goes like this: 'You might be a Redneck if…the first thing you think of at a dinosaur dig is _Baby Back Ribs!_ Huh? What do you think?"

Raven slumped her shoulders in defeat. "It's horrible, like all your jokes have been since you learned to speak English."

Garfield pouted at that from Raven's second hood, but shut up. For a couple feet. "Hmm. Beast? Or Boy? Hey, I think I figured out a code name for myself!"

Suddenly, Raven was interested. "Really? What is it?"

"'Beast Boy'!"

She thought it over for a second. "Um, isn't it impossible for you to take the form of a human?"

"Well…." He said slowly, "It sounds cool, doesn't it?"

Raven sighed and smiled. "All right then, Beast Boy it is."

A week before, Batman had flown back to Gotham. After all, the city couldn't survive long without him around, but being away from his mentor and guardian for the first time in a decade was quite strange for Dick.

The temporary house they had rented for the interviews was a large, impersonal and rather bleak place with what he supposed were sophisticated carvings on the Roman-style front porch. It looked nice, he thought, but it lacked personality.

Of course he freely admitted this to Barbara over breakfast, as well as the fact that he would probably think of "personality" as a couple cat-claw marks on those pretty carvings, or a series of punctures in the drywall from practicing the Batarang.

"So, uh, Barb," he said as he drank some orange juice, "Just how _are_ we doing this?"

Barbara smiled slyly, "We get the reception spruced up, and open our doors at 10 o-clock. And don't forget, while we are in this city we must use our code names only: our identities have leaked slightly in Gotham, but Jump is a fresh start. We must make sure that they stay ignorant."

"Right," Robin sighed, then he glanced at the time. "Ack!" he said, a startled expression appearing on his face, "It's already 9:45! We only have 15—", Suddenly Oracle burst out laughing around a mouthful of toast.

"Don't be silly," she said cheerfully, "It's 10-o-clock PM!"

He blankly stared at her and then grinned in relief. "Thank God, I thought the whole thing was ruined." He relaxed and dug into his pocket for a copy of the poster. "I'm just checking it again," he said when Oracle stared at him oddly. However, when he scanned it, he grew worried again, "Hey, Oracle," he said slowly, "this thing says 'any time', it also says 'we advise you to get here as early as possible'. Doesn't that mean they could be outside the door right now?"

Oracle furrowed her brow at him disapprovingly, but took the poster from him. After a moment her eyes widened and blinked a couple times. Then she said "Shit," around the piece of toast hanging from her mouth, "You're right, Rob, that could be frustrating."

He couldn't help but smirk. "I know I'm right: I usually am." He ducked as Oracle chucked her other piece of toast at him. "C'mon, Or," he said teasingly, "Is your aim off?" the bowl of fruit, however, came as he was straightening up so after the ceramic dish hit him in the face and landed upside down in his hair he found himself wearing peaches and blueberries on his head.

"What was that about my aim?" she said with her arms crossed, "And you're lucky I don't eat oatmeal."

Robin slowly flushed and dragged the remnants of Oracle's breakfast off of his face. The silence stretched for a while. "Sorry," Robin said, and Oracle smiled.

"Well isn't that sweet," a cocky African voice said out of nowhere.

Instantly Oracle's left hand went to a concealed button on the underside of her armrest, and Robin sprang to his feet, whipping out a batarang. "Who's there?!" he shouted, "Show yourself!"

"Geez," the voice said again, "Are all male superheroes as tense as you?" Then the source of the voice seemingly grew into being right in front of the two of them. She was quite a shapely woman, dressed in yellow and black sweats. She also had a pair of wings on her back, with which she was hovering perhaps six inches above their breakfast.

After she achieved a more standard size she touched down lightly on the mahogany tabletop. Seeing that she hadn't incited anything other than the initial reactions, she pouted and sat down next to their pitcher of orange juice. "I'm a prospective member of your team, of course," She said mockingly, "and you people aren't very specific about time, are you?" Before either could reply she continued. "A large group of this came together with that very thought, in fact, and decided to send one of them on their own to explain. I got the short straw."

She lightly landed on the floor and turned to Robin, totally ignoring Oracle. "A group of 30 will be coming together, Pretty Boy, so I suggest you be ready. Oh, and I overheard that time you mentioned: we'll be sure to get here by then." And with that she turned, shrank again, and started to fly off. "Just a second!" Oracle said sharply with her hand in front of her and the toast now on her plate, "Before you go, miss, I would like to know who you are."

The black woman looked at her sharply. "You want to know my _name_?"

"No," Oracle shook her head, "I want to know your codename."

"Ah," she said happily, "That one is easy: it's Bumblebee." And so she buzzed to the roof, paused, and launched a bolt of electricity at their table before zinging away into the distance.

They both stared angrily at the large scorch mark lying next to Robin's scrambled eggs. "Well," Robin said after a minute, "I can't say this place doesn't have personality anymore."

It was now a full 12 hours later, and the two of them felt that the site of the recruitment was going to be perfect. It was stripped down to the essentials: dozens of chairs for those not being interviewed to sit in. That was all. However, the chairs that they found all over the house was extremely fancy. Cherry wood frames with detailed carvings of animals, and plush red velvet cushions now decorated the immense reception hall.

"I wish they'd arrive already," said Robin, who was in his full get-up and leaning on the wall to the left of the door. "I'd like to get this done as soon as possible."

Oracle shook her head from her position 6 feet from and facing the same door. "It's not that simple, Rob, we have to know the reason they're trying to join, we have to see what their powers are, we have to see if they can stand the kind of characters that they'll be living with if they succeed: there's dozens of little things you have to pay attention to when assembling a potentially elite team of law-enforcers."

Robin stared at her, his face paling, "Um, run this by me again: dozens of factors needed…and not ONE of them mentioned to me?"

Oracle sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Didn't you look at the instruction booklet I gave you _two weeks ago?_"

"Um…," he said slowly, "I might have looked at it…once…on the weekend…maybe. I skimmed it…I'm pretty sure."

"Geez, Rob, I gave that to you for a reason: it's too much to fit into a conversation."

"Oh come on, Or," he said uncomfortably, "You know I had other things on my mind."

She crossed her arms over her chest and sharply turned her head away from him, pouting. "Like what, a girlfriend?"

Robin blinked, "Ah, Or, I never said anything about a girlfriend. But since you ask, no: I had a dream last night."

"Ah," Oracle said sarcastically, "Of course, such an unique occurrance is bound to distract you."

"No, seriously," Robin said with a frown, "This dream was different—well, not too different, since I've lately had similar dreams, but before they started my dreams were nothing like this."

Oracle reluctantly turned her head, and before her face went back to its usual, slightly-distant-but-friendly expression, Robin thought he saw a little bit of insecurity. _Yeah right, _he thought, _I must be seeing things._ "Is that so?" she said quietly, "Do you…you know…want to talk about it?"

Robin smiled slightly; she really knew him well. "Sure," he said, before diving into it directly, "Every night now, for a couple of weeks I've had dreams that seem to happen sequentially. In them I'm a girl, and I'm speaking a language that I shouldn't understand yet I do. And it's in a spaceship of all things."

Oracle scratched her cheek, "I'd say you were cracking up if you weren't taking this so well. I guess this started that night you woke up screaming?"

"And 'Batman' became 'Bruce' without changing costumes?" Robin laughed at the memory, "Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, last night I had it again, but in it I escaped—,"

Oracle interrupted him again, "If I were a psychologist I'd say this dream symbolized how you felt trapped by Batman, and that the escape from the spaceship symbolized your breaking out on your own."

"It's more than that," Robin said angrily, "it's so vivid it might as well actually be happening—"

"In a figurative sense, it is," Oracle said, smiling.

"Would you PLEASE stop interrupting me?" Robin said in exasperation.

"Right, sure."

"As I was saying, before last night it never even left the cell. But this time, not only did it go into the corridors, but it even went into space…without an escape pod."

"You must have woken up from asphyxiation," Oracle said, her tongue in her cheek.

"It's not funny!" Robin shouted, much to her astonishment.

"Sorry," she said quietly, "It's not like I'm trying to demean you: I just think you should forget what happened in dreamland and focus on what's happening in the real world. Right here, and right now is what needs our attention."

"You're right," Robin sighed, "I should put it into the back of my mind.

Oracle brightened up considerably. "And you know how good you are at that!" she said in a sing-song voice, "Seriously, both absent-minded and color-blind: what a combination."

"Color blind!?" Robin shouted, "Are you implying that my uniform isn't awesome?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" she shouted with a laugh. then everything stopped as the doorbell rang. The two of them stared at each other until it rang again.

"You…want to get it?" Robin said in a whisper,

"No, I think you should." She whispered back.

"Fine," he said with a shrug, not wanting to get into another argument.

When he opened the ancient, wooden doors, he was shocked. There were a full 60 people waiting outside the door. "What happened to 'on the down-low?' he whispered to Oracle, who was just as surprised.

"Don't ask me," she whispered back, "Just ask that peeping tomboy Bumblebee: she better have an explanation for this."

"Hey, Rob!" the same cocky voice from before rang out. _Speak of the devil,_ Robin thought as Bumblebee pushed her way to the front with two other people.

One of them was a black man with no hair whatsoever, but he was built well enough. He wore what looked like an asbestos body suit—with a retro-Elizabethan collar—that was black with red letters from _The Lord of the Rings_ written down both sides. "Quite a turn-out for that 'personal costume party' you set up, huh?" Bumblebee shouted happily.

Both Oracle and Robin blinked, _Oh,_ they thought in unison, _Hiding in plain sight, huh? She's pretty smart after all_.

"Well I didn't expect this much of a turn-out," Oracle said immediately, hoping to get the most tedious part of the interviews over with in one shot, "Why don't you all come in and introduce us to your friends?"

Bumblebee grinned: clearly she could tell that the excuse was received with gratitude. Every one of the wacky-dressed individuals poured into the reception.

Pointing to the black man they had noticed earlier, Bumblebee started to talk again. "My friend here is Hotshot—"

"That's Hot_spot_, short-stuff," he growled, "And in case you don't want to be the main course at tonight's barbecue, you'll remember it."

"Right," Bumblebee said casually, "That's if you could catch me: besides, who eats Grilled Bumblebee? But that's besides the point: my other friend here goes by Argent: her skin is silver, as you can see." Indeed, the woman was shining in the light of the lamps. When she spoke, her cool English accent came as a surprise.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Boy Wonder," she said with a curtsy.

"Uh, sure," Robin said, trying to avoid watching the many parts that were barely concealed by her dress and not see Oracle's expression. "But how did you know about us, when you live in the UK?"

"London, my dear boy," she said with an overly saccharine smile, "London. And the prodigal apprentice and his mentor, Batman, are known all over the world. I have long been an admirer of your work in the cesspool of Jump City."

"Yeah," Robin said, _geez, stalker much?_ He thought, "Glad to meet you…but flattery won't get you anywhere: we have to know the personality and powers of everyone in this room before we know who would be best for this team."

Another man strolled over at that moment. "Excuse me, but I have a question."

"Yes?" Robin said, a little worried. The man had the face of a petty crook: his nose was a little long, and his eyes were close-set, beady, and a watery-blue. It seemed like he was the kind who would try anything to have a better life. His tan suit seemed to be a look-alike of Elvis's legendary getup, but his stringy torso (that was also painfully hairless) made it look downright creepy. Of course the giant, black, notched lapel didn't help: it only made his immaturity more obvious. In addition, he had a simple, black blindfold with eyeholes for a mask and both black gloves and boots.

"Is yours the only one whose spot is filled? Or is the lovely lady next to you already part of it as well?"

"As the poster said," Oracle said stiffly, "Only the leader's spot has been filled."

"Oh," He said, "All right then: I was only worried because I doubted someone in a wheelchair could be much support for a team of fighters."

All five of the people he was talking to were instantly pissed off. Hotspot cocked a fist at his right side; ready to let fly, but Argent stopped him with a discreet hand on his arm.

Oracle drew herself up as straight as possible. _Uh oh,_ Robin thought with a grin, _this is gonna be good: she's rarely this angry._ "I see," she said quietly, "Clearly one as immature and narrow-minded as yourself doesn't have even a fraction of the common sense necessary to see that all types are necessary: fighting is only the most obvious facet of a team, _little boy_, and even without that experience makes up for everything. And experience, my idiotic friend, is the one thing you will _always_ lack, along with fashion sense and logic."

The man stared at her in disbelief, "Now see here, I—."

"Ah, ah, ah," she said mockingly, shaking one slender finger from side to side in his face, "Settle down, child, and listen to the teacher when she's talking: perhaps you'll learn something for once." As the man began to grind his teeth and everyone else gave her their undivided attention, Oracle continued, "Besides the battle, a superhero must have compassion for others, and the want to protect those that cannot protect themselves: humanity is the most valuable thing a metahuman can possess. In addition a superhero must have experience in tactics, strategy, fighting those more powerful than themselves, cooking, first aid, respect, discerning whether the crime warrants the punishment, the ability to analyze a situation and use it to prevent as many deaths as possible; they must be able to adapt to adversity and compensate for their own shortcomings; they must be able to rely on others and let others rely on them, they must be able to shoulder other peoples burdens and go on with life shouldering new ones. They must understand the enemy so that the correct punishment can be meted out; they must be able to freely forgive their enemies so that those enemies can follow their corrections and turn away from evil; they must, above all, be able to gather information in order to track down the master criminals. Oh, isn't that a coincidence; I happen to be the world's foremost authority on just that!

"Can you do any of that? I think not, _child_, and it is clear that you do not want to. So what name do you go by?"

Angered, but unable to lash out at this…this _woman_, the man instead answered her question. "My codename…is Quill. And my current real name is Ethan."

"Very well, then, Ethan," Oracle said coldly with a slight inclination of the head as if she were the matron of a Roman family, "I think this interview is over: don't bother coming back, because we all know you didn't qualify. But remember, turn your back on crime and you still might make it as a hero."

Ethan's shoulders slumped as he slogged his way back to the front door.

A midget in green coveralls and a high-tech backpack said to his friends in a loud whisper, "Geez, check out the expression on Crudwad's face over there, Kyd: haha, wuss. He'd never make it as a super-anything. We don't even know what his power is." He laughed along with his friends, one of which wore an odd helmet that only showed one large eye in the center, another who looked like the bastard son of a Mammoth and a Gorilla, a girl with pink devil's horns for hair, and a boy with a black, silver and purple body suit that included a full mask and seemingly-wind-swept hair.

Ethan hunched his shoulders and said, "What did you just say?"

"Gee," the boy said, "I don't know: what do you think I said, Mammoth?"

"Uhh," the monster behind him said, "Umm, didn't you say he was a Crudwad?"

The pink-haired girl shook her head as the midget hit his own forehead. "Don't let it get to you, Gizmo, Mammoth has always been that way, and you can't cure stupid…right, Seemore?"

"That's right," the oddly-helmeted boy grinned as he nodded his head in agreement, "But even dumbo here wasn't stupid enough to bad mouth the hostess. Right, Mammoth?"

Mammoth nodded dully with a smile: "My mommy said I had to be polite."

Ethan snapped. He whipped around to his left with a screech and put his left arm against his chest. As he finished the turn he used his momentum to aid the launch of a dozen keratin spears. Their speed was remarkable; in the blink of an eye, they had all spanned the 60' room to lodge in Mammoth's arms and chest.

With a roar, Mammoth charged as he pulled out the spikes in his arm. "Mammoth…don't…like…giant needles!" he covered the distance in a rather short time as both Robin and Oracle tried to stop the fight. But it had already gone too far: Ethan slid under his legs and grabbed his ankles in passing, sending small slivers of bone into Mammoth's flesh and knocking him down to the ground.

Mammoth rolled onto his back as Ethan leaned over him. Suddenly one of the beast's giant fists was in Ethan's face, but just as quickly a shell of bone covered that half of his face. For a moment, time stood still…then a blast of what seemed to be pure sound plowed through the doorway and hit Ethan in the side, catching him unawares.

The blast lifted Ethan off his feet and threw him across the room to land on the ground at Oracle's feet. Soon a large, half-metal black man climbed through the hole the sonic blast had opened. Ethan weakly sat up and stared at the apparition. "Dammit," he said weakly, "Not you, again, Cyborg."

"I don't give up, _Quill_." Cyborg said darkly.

"If you want him, you can have him," Robin said flately, "but please, don't destroy anything else."

Cyborg smiled. "Oh don't worry; the only other thing around here that I want to break is you."

A vein in Robin's forehead twitched. "Is that so?" he said slowly, "And why, may I ask, would you want to do that?"

Cyborg snorted and held up one of the posters. "What do you think? Do you believe that I would sit back while a stranger sets up shop in my backyard? I'm supposed to protect Jump City: not YOU."

At this point, Ethan tried to creep away, but immediately another blast came from Cyborg's left arm, stopping him in his tracks, and Robin quickly tied him up. Then they glared at each other. "Don't interrupt my work." They both said at the same time, and Ethan fainted from fright. The discharge from his eyes and nose wasn't very pleasant.

Oracle smiled softly and nestled her chin in her hand as she watched the two opposites stare at each other from across the room. Obviously they had found their first teammate; now came the difficult part: convincing Robin that this was so.

"Come on, guys," new voice said quietly from the corner, and they both whipped around to see what seemed to be a blond version of Robin, but with a better hair cut and a quiver of arrows on his back leaning against the wall. "I mean, geez, aren't we supposed to be interviewed right now?"

"Interviewed?" another voice said shakily, "How can you think about that right now? I'm not staying around to see how this ends up: good bye!" and a pudgy boy suddenly quick-stepped out the smashed door."

The boy shook his head until another voice suddenly spoke up. "He really is a coward: danger will always be part of the job." This time the speaker was a long, black-haired young man with pale skin and an aquiline nose. His sea-blue eyes sparkled as he turned to the previous speaker and said, "Who are you, anyway?"

He shrugged and said, "My code name is Speedy. Yours?"

"Mine's Aqualad: nice to meet you."

At that point, the rest of the visitors started to dribble away until all that was left was the tethered, Ethan, the group of five that had pissed Ethan off in the first place, Speedy, Aqulad, Bumblebee's trio, Cyborg and the hosts.

"No point in staying here now," the pink-haired girl said to her friends: we're obviously not welcome. Come on, boys."

"Yes ma'am, miss Jinx," Gizmo said immediately, and the group casually strolled out of the demolished door.

"Well would you look at that," Robin muttered, "Someone the green termite doesn't insult: she must be dangerous."

"She was the politest one out of the five," Oracle said, "But like they say: 'it's always the quiet ones'. I think that one called Kyd might turn out to be the wild card of that little group."

Aqualad then strolled up, interrupting Cyborg's attempt to return to the first subgect. "I've decided that I wouldn't be a good addition to your group," he said to Robin, "Besides, I usually work alone except for Tramm."

Speedy looked at him curiously as he strolled over to join them, "Who's Tramm?"

"Oh," Aqualad said, "He's a friend: a Fish-boy I rescued some years back. He hasn't left my side since."

Speedy scratched his head, "You know," he said lightly, "I'd like to meet this fish-boy of yours."

"Sure," Aqualad shrugged his willingness, "But didn't you want to join this Teen Titans team?"

"It's not exactly my style." Speedy said with a grin, "I think the stuff that applies to the fighting is great, but the rest is just tedious self-justification to me."

With smiles and nods to the host and hostess, the odd pair also took their leave.

"So…." Robin said angrily, "That makes the only people here me, Oracle, Bumblebee and her friends…_Ethan_…and you." He stared accusingly at Cyborg. "Are you happy? You've ruined all chances of me getting a team in this town, and the instant I publish the new area I'll be recruiting in, they'll start searching for the reason I changed sites. Teen Titans is a bust because of you."

Bumblebee, Argent and Hotspot took that moment to vacate the premises.

"And that's just the way I like it," Cyborg said with a smile as he swung the trussed-up Ethan over his shoulder. Then Robin noticed him start to stare at Oracle. He half-turned and saw Oracle staring back at Cyborg with an intense gaze and a small, almost cocky smile on her lips. Sensing her thought, Robin whipped around to look at Cyborg again and started to smile as well.

Cyborg started to back away as the ramfications of his interruption started to crash in upon him. "You know," Robin said slowly, "If you wanted to continue defending Jump City, you could have just gone through with the audition."

"Oh no," Cyborg said in fright, "I am not joining up with you for something like this; I can handle Jump City on my own: especially now that I've succeeded in making my Sonic Cannon."

"Are you sure?" Oracle said invitingly, "We do have the financial backing of Wayne Enterprises."

Cyborg's organic eye widened. "Seriously?" he whispered, "You have the backing of the most futuristic tech company in the world? And I could use their stuff if I joined?"

"I don't see why not," Oracle said casually, "Bruce does have a personal interest in the formation of this team."

Cyborg quickly turned his back and started to leave. When he was a couple feet away from the door he stopped, hesitated, and turned back slightly.

"I'll think about it," was all he said before he disappeared into the night with his odd baggage on his shoulder.

A/N: I think it's about time I acknowledged at least one of those excellent people reviewing my stories. Guifi, you reviewed each of my earlier chapters, and gave me excellent encouragement: Arigato! However…you've kinda stopped reviewing…are you not reading it anymore? Thanks to Somewhere in Time as well: even though you thought that I'd stopped updating, you still came back to see my baby again. Being re-readable is even better than being read one time only…even with the highest compliments!


	9. Fated Arrivals

Author's Note: I do not own anything in Teen Titans, and the only things in this story I do own are the OCs, the plot, and Nechromium, a metal that _deadens_ all senses. Or, more accurately, it prevents any senses from penetrating it. It's sound-proof, x-ray resistant, and temperature neutral, rendering all tech for seeing or hearing past it ineffective. It radiates a smell and taste all it's own, making it a type of techno-strawberry that masks all other scents in the vicinity. The sense of touch is a given failure even without Nechromium, but its texture not only prevents others from being felt, but has no friction so by finger alone you won't even know it's there.

**Mind and Body Chapter 9: Fated Arrivals**

"Well?" Oracle said, smiling pleasantly at the large man across from her, "Have you come to a decision about our offer, Cyborg?"

Cyborg was standing silently in front of her large cherrywood desk, a hand resting on the leather-bound easy chair across from her. His gaze wasn't hostile like it had been two weeks ago, but neither did it betray any other emotion. In the recesses of his mind, he once again thanked God for that tiny miracle of lie-proof hardware. It wasn't much of a silver lining when his habit of complete honesty was considered, but it was a bit of comfort all the same.

"Yes," he said calmly while Robin watched cautiously from the sidelines, "I've decided that I want to join your little team, but I also have a question." Here he turned to Robin. "If it's just the two of us, I'm out. I need there to be at least one other member of the team, or I honestly won't be able to stick it much longer than a month."

"What's wrong with me?" Robin asked with a slight scowl.

"Nothing," Cyborg replied mildly, "It's just that you are not the type that makes a good roommate: too pushy."

"I'm the intended leader of the new Teen Titans," Robin said flatly, "I'm supposed to be pushy."

"That brings me to the second reason: I am not going to be on the bottom rung of this group either: I want to at least be in charge of a department."

Oracle sighed. "This is covered in the Superhuman Law Enforcement Code: 'Seniority within a group is defined by experience as part of the team, not prowess in their power or experience as a loner, or as part of another team save in extraneous circumstances'. Think carefully now: you are the second member, yes?"

Cyborg nodded readily.

"Then that means you're the second in command. No matter how many join up in the future."

Cyborg smiled. "I can go with that."

Robin stood up and stared at Oracle. " I didn't know there was such a thing as the Superhuman Law Enforcement Code, and what constitutes 'extraneous circumstances'?"

"SLEC," Oracle said, "is the generally agreed upon rules that all heroes follow. Or at least, that's how it started out: it's gone the way of the White House now, with all kinds of unnecessary rules that still need to be followed. I'll give you a copy before I leave. But to answer your other question, the second in command's position is revoked if he or she should break the rules of the code—luckily that only applies to the originals—or if they leave the team of their own free will. It will also be revoked if they actively betray the team to an enemy. Only in the second instance is it possible to be reinstated, in which case they must prove their worthiness to reassume the role. Page 238, paragraph 6."

"What," Cyborg said with a small smile, "Is it your bible or something?"

"Exactly."

"Oh." He was silent for a moment, then, "So about my first question…."

Oracle smiled again, "Oh yes, there will be other members: at least three others, though we will need to take a different recruiting strategy now. SLEC also specifies that 5 is the smallest number needed to become an official team in the record books."

Cyborg blinked his organic eye, then looked at Oracle closely. "And just how closely does the committee that issues these things follow the teams around the world?"

"I was going to save that for after your questions, but if that's the only thing you're interested in we can start immediately."

Cyborg nodded. "I definitely need to know how close the tabs they keep are."

Oracle sighed slightly, "It's not very pleasant, I'll tell you that. Robin, you need to hear this as well, so why don't both of you sit down and we'll get started?"

Curious, they both sat down in front of Oracle's desk as she opened one of her drawers and pulled out two books.

One of them was small—almost the same size as a pamphlet, if much thicker—and was a sky blue color with the letters S.L.E.C. typed in bold purple type across the front.

"That's a fashion statement," Cyborg said with a chuckle.

"Thank you: I designed this edition for them." Oracle said, and nodded in satisfaction when her comment shut Cyborg up in an instant. "I bet you didn't know that I'm the only one-person member of that organization, did you? Or that Batman's family is the only one with non-powered members of the same?"

For once, Robin and Cyborg looked identical, shaking their heads in tandem with eyes wide. Seeing Robin's question in his eyes, Oracle nodded. "Yes, Robin, you've been in their records as the third member of the Batman team for a while now. But that will change when we have finalized the founding members of the Teen Titans." With a small look at Cyborg, she saw that he needed one last nudge in the right direction. Luckily, none of it was lies, and the direction she was taking him would end up with him in safety. "I'm registered as the second in command."

"Ooookay," Cyborg said in awe, "Now I'm impressed: the second in command of the only non-powered team on a par with Superman? You're good, Oracle: damn good if you're still there while in that chair of yours."

"Why thank you, Cyborg." She replied.

Then Cyborg said quietly, "But wouldn't an incident like that qualify as an 'extenuating circumstances'? I'm sorry, but why did they let you remain on the team?"

Robin piped up at that moment and said, "Actually it makes sense: she was the first person to join Cyborg, and she has never quit, so she has by far the most experience."

"Whatever," Cyborg said impatiently, "Let's look at this thing already."

Oracle smiled and opened the second book. This one was huge: fully four feet by four feet and bound in leather. She flipped to a mark she had made and said, "This is the part that you need to see that isn't in the basics."

It was the passage dictating how closely the teams were monitored. There was a large amount of legal speak that neither boy understood so they asked Oracle to explain. She sighed, "Fine. Essentially it says that each member's codename, powers and rank in their organization are monitored constantly to keep up with any changes in real time. Any bUreaches of conduct are immediately reported and except in the case of a voluntary resignation results in their never being able to join again later. SLEC basically wants to know everything. But they aren't allowed to access the members' schedules or minds."

Cyborg frowned, "Are you sure there's even the tech for mind control? I thought that was just a conspiracy theory."

Oracle shook her head sadly. "No, it is an unfortunate fact of life. But superheroes are safe from such devices from any government power because of this clause. It's actually a good thing."

Raven groaned as she sat at the roadside cross-legged. "This is getting so old." She muttered, "There's no way I can stand this for much longer."

"Then don't," Garfield said simply from where he sat, with his tiger tail wrapped around his legs. "Besides, you can ride on my back you know."

"But that gives me saddle sores."

"Which would you prefer, saddle sores after a couple days of travel, or walk for a couple weeks?"

Raven groaned and put her face in her hands. "I hate it when you're right."

"Hey!"

At that same time, Cael walked back to where the two of them were, shaking his head at how comfortable they were with each other. It had taken him all seven years that they had been together to even get where he was now, and he was still caught up short by a green tiger comforting a teenage girl.

"You know that was a joke, right?" Raven said.

Garfield laughed and changed into a ferret to curl up around her shoulders. "Of course I do: but I'm still gonna at least pretend to be insulted."

Raven smiled and scratched his head as he nuzzled her cheek.

"It's time we got some sleep," Cael said with a smile.

"But it's still somewhat light: you know I travel best in the dark," Raven said quietly.

"And you know that I don't," Cael said shortly, ignoring her surprised look. He relaxed for a moment. "Sorry, Rae, I get quite short-tempered at night."

"Oh," Garfield said slyly, "So the problem isn't that it's past _our_ bedtime, but that it's past _yours_. C'mon, Rae, let's let the man have his beauty sleep."

Cael's eye started twitching as Raven took it even further with her signature deadpan humor, "He's gonna need a lot of it."

"All right," he said shortly as he spread his sleeping bag, "I get it: I'm old. You don't need to rub it in. Besides I could still whoop both your butts."

"Right," they both said together, "you know that's not true."

"Good. Night."

Instantly Cael started to snore. Raven shook her head and said, "How does he do it?"

"You mean get it both right and wrong at the same time?" Garfield asked.

"That too, but I was talking about his sleep pattern."

Garfield yawned hugely, "We should get some sleep too."

"That'd be easier if you quieted down," Cael said from a couple feet away.

"Sorry," they both whispered.

As she lay down she couldn't help the feeling of insecurity that creeped up on her. "Hey Rae," Garfield whispered.

"Yeah?" she replied with a bit of a shaky tone to her voice, "What is it?"

"Just because we aren't traveling doesn't mean you have to go to sleep. You could…I don't know…keep watch? So you can still keep _that_ a secret from him."

"Thanks, Gar," she said, giving him a hug, "But as you know, if I'm not moving then this night in particular I will always fall asleep. I can't avoid it this time."

"All right," he said in a small voice, while still in his ferret form, "…Good night, Rae. Seriously."

"I hope so too," she whispered.

In his half-sleeping state, Cael could only sense one word out of three, but the fact that they were still keeping a secret from him came through loud and clear. He sighed as sleep came to claim him for the night.

_Everything was black, and she knew instinctively that if she could see there would still be no difference. A rumble in the background made the hairs on her neck stand on end and suddenly a pillar of red light burst from the invisible floor beneath her. Although nothing was definite, she caught a glimpse of four eyes and the faint sound of vicious laughter before the silence and darkness returned. It was uproarious in the absence of mundane sound, and seemed to carry the connotations of thousands of screams._

Her own scream joined the others as she woke up abruptly. Garfield, licking her face urgently in the shape of a puppy, bounced back suddenly but immediately came back in, snuggling against her as she sat up while Cael through off the sleeping bag.

"What is it!?" he asked sharply as he sprang to his feet, "Is something attacking? What's going on?"

Raven shook her head. "No, nothing's attacking. It's not even a surprise."

"What? What do you mean?" He asked urgently.

Garfield groaned softly, "Looks like tonight's the night after all. I was hoping it wasn't."

Raven took a shaky breath and let it back out. "No, it really is my birthday."

Robin woke up that morning frustrated. In the next room Cyborg was snoring loudly. Apparently he didn't actually have a place of his own, despite how smart he was. Robin couldn't help but grit his teeth at just how much injustice there was in the world, but that wasn't why he was frustrated.

He had dreamed again. And not just any dream, either: it was another one with that strange gender switch. This time he had been flying through space and dodging enemy ships. How he knew they were enemies he had no clue, but the really disturbing part was that he could destroy them without any machines. He had felt his hand draw back many times in order to throw what looked like bits of a star, and each one blew up another ship.

Eventually he had flown through what he recognized was the Kuiper belt, blasting a path for himself, and zipped past Pluto so incredibly fast that it seemed impossible. In what seemed to be minutes he was skimming Saturn's rings, approaching Jupiter, and then past both giants. In the distance he saw a little blue planet with green shapes on top and knew it to be Earth. It had been at that point he had woken up, and he really wanted to see what happened next.

Over the intercom he heard Oracle announce "All right, boys! It's 5:30 AM and you need to be out of bed!"

Robin laughed as he heard Cyborg's snore catch short. "Dude!" he shouted after he woke up completely, "Just because I can recharge in 15 minutes doesn't mean I don't like sleep!"

"Oh quit complaining," Robin said as he saw him in the hall, "When we're an official team our hours will be far worse."

"Don't remind me," Cyborg said. But he still went downstairs to see what Oracle had to tell them.

"All right men," Oracle said after she had their attention, "I know the last couple days have been a bust but I have a good feeling about today. I bet we find our next team member!"

"Yeah right, Or," Robin said with his arms crossed, "Face it: with the recruitment a failure we just don't know how to find the super-powered half of the population."

"So let me get this straight," Cyborg said, "You _want_ to find these people with freaky powers?"

"Yes," Robin said, "Their abilities will make our team all the better at protecting Justice."

"Dude, you make it sound like we're protecting a girl: justice isn't a human being."

"Why are you complaining? You should know how helpful they could be."

Cyborg walked up to Robin and poked a finger in his face. "I don't think you get it, Robin: you use devices in your fights, and that's all right because you know they'll work. I'm the same, though I don't look it, because all my hardware was built with sweat and blood. I earned this power, just like you did. But a mutant isn't like that: they were born with their powers, and don't know how difficult life can be without its support. More often then not, they have no clue that their abilities can kill. Their bodies can use it, but their minds can't cope so they are likely to lose themselves."

Both Robin and Oracle stared at Cyborg in disbelief. "Wow," Oracle said, "That's a good point."

"I don't get it," Robin said, "What's so bad about having powers?"

"In other words," Oracle said quietly, "Mutants are far more likely to go insane or change their ideals. And way more destructive when they do because they don't always know how they're doing what it is they are doing."

Robin's eyes widened. "Oh, I get it."

Cyborg smiled and sprang something on the two of them. "Now that I know what it is you're looking for, I gotta tell ya something: forget it."

They stared at him in shock. "You mean, you're quitting?" Robin said, dumbfounded, "You don't want to be part of the team?"

"No. It can't be a team if you're looking for mutants: it has to be a family."

"And why's that?"

"Because a family is what every mutant wants more than anything: people they can be totally honest with. Man, you have no clue what those go through as a definition. Every single one of them has a horror story of a past just by having those powers. Believe me, I know."

Oracle shook her head in amazement as Robin asked, "And just how do you know?" Suspiciously.

Cyborg nodded in understanding. "Because I'm the same as them, in a way. My cybernetics may have been built, Robin, but they also built me: they are a part of me, in public opinion as well as body. They made me an outcast at the same time as they made me a better person."

"So you're saying that you're like me, but you're like them too?" Robin said in confusion as Oracle smiled and thought, _Perfect, we couldn't have a better second in command. Well, Bats, it seems your student is indeed_ fated_ to be a big player in this game. I'm just wondering how big, and who will be holding onto his cape? Besides, he might be the one hanging on in the end._

"Just what do you mean by that?!" Cael said in frustration, "Why does the fact that it's your birthday make it so bad?!" Glaring at the two silent children in front of him, a gimlet look in his eye, he said it slowly. "Tell me why turning 16 is such a horrible thing…damn it!"

They just looked at the ground until Raven started talking. "I was able to tell you how I could kill easily, so it's not a surprise that I can tell you this as well: if I fall asleep on the night of my birthday, then it always happens. I don't even know how to explain it, but they act like dreams and seem like a lot more. They're more like memories, but the only thing I know for sure is that nothing in this world has frightened me nearly so much as these visions."

Cael blinked and then relaxed. "Well, if that's all you know, then I guess you can't tell me more. But damn, it stinks that your birthday is that bad."

"Let's just go," Raven said shortly as she stood up, "I can't just stay here, or the dream will stick with me for a week. That's what happened before." She started to move, but then she realized that she hadn't moved her legs.

"Huh?"

"Um, Raven?" Garfield said with a huge smile, "You do know you're flying, right?"

"Whoa," Raven said after seeing she was perhaps eight feet off the ground.

"This is sweet!" Garfield said as he shifted into a swallow and flew up to her, "Now we can both fly!"

As Raven smiled with true joy, Cael just smiled from his position on the ground. He took a deep breath and looked at the two of them hovering above him. "The future indeed," he said to himself, thinking back to the day he had joined these amazing children. Soon he wouldn't be able to be on the same team as them, as he felt in his heart that they would certainly become a part of the team, but that didn't mean he couldn't protect them for as long as possible. And it also didn't mean they would lose touch. _I won't let us separate for long,_ he thought, _because they've given me back my life: they gave me a purpose to live and that is more than enough repayment for teaching her how to control her powers._

Blinking himself back to the present, he smiled again at Raven and Garfield. "Do you know what this means?" he called up to them.

When they shook their heads he chuckled, "We can all fly to Jump City and get there in five days."

"You mean you can fly too?!" Garfield shouted.

"Of course," Raven said flatly, "you would. But why did you keep it a secret?"

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Because my method of flight doesn't allow for passengers: it would have raised your hopes for no reason."

Raven shook her head. "Listen, all this time we've walked because we thought _you_ couldn't fly, not because we knew I couldn't"

"What?"

"Like he said earlier, I can always ride on Garfield's back. He just can't take more than one passenger."

He blushed a deeper red, "Oh, I didn't think of that."

"Whatever," Raven said as she rolled her eyes, "Let's go, shall we?"

Cael smiled and nodded firmly, "Of course," he said, and he crouched for a second, letting flames burst from his feet and assume a white tint. Using the pressure from these flames he glided up to the two of them.

"Dude," Garfield said quietly, "Hardcore." And the three of them started to fly toward Jump City.

Oracle was in the middle of one of her periodic all-nighters—there was no way she would get rid of that habit—and she was spending her time on the computer. Cyber-space was really the only place she felt fully comfortable.

On her head there was an odd helmet that blocked out her eyes and ears with a sensory-deprivation metal. The titanium dome holding them together fit tightly over her hair and sported a trio of tubes that attached to her chair. This odd contraption allowed her to almost literally upload her consciousness to the 'net and permitted different levels of control with different stages of the program.

Of course she was on the third level of the program, thus the metal shielding her senses, so the real world was displayed on the inside and overlaid with holographic screens that she could interact with.

She quickly slid the screen containing her report to Batman about her progress to the left and in front of her so she could start typing. Pressing the visual that seemed to say "Keyboard", she allowed another hologram to open up just below her report and felt through her special gloves the buttons that technically weren't there. She felt a minor irritation at the necessity for the pressure sensors, but without them the computer couldn't sense what she was touching so she didn't complain…at least, not out loud.

Suddenly she heard a beep in her left ear that quickly increased in speed and volume. Sharply turning her head upward and to the left, she saw the symbol of the Batsignal flashing. _Huh_, she thought, _didn't know the portable version could do that: it would have to have automatically hacked_ _into the local camera system and police department, as well as the local satellites and the entire infrastructure of the business district._ She shook her head in exasperation and turned the helmet back to stage one: off. _Really, Batman,_ she thought as the Nechromium eyeshield retracted, _you have to respect people's privacy._

Shrugging, she gave in to temptation and called up the rundown screen, recalling phase three of her online helmet. Filling the center thirds of her vision was video footage of something flashing through space…and headed to Earth. Oracle watched in amazement as the small object hit the atmosphere and started to slow down. As it heated up she could see that it was only about the size of a human…and was purple. Then the temperature readings taken by the satellite whose "eyes" she was borrowing leapt up to the hypothesized limit for a comet to reach upon entry. Then it began to speed up again, and it was headed for Jump City.

She instantly turned the helmet back off and pressed the red button on her left armrest as Robin woke up screaming a floor above her. This, combined with the siren and red, flashing lights woke up Cyborg.

"Damn it, it's 2-o-Clock in the morning!" he raged, "I need sleep!"

Oracle abruptly turned off the alarm.

"Thank you!" Cyborg growled, but before Robin could explain the purpose of the siren, Oracle beat him to the punch. "That signal, Cyborg, means that there is danger approaching Jump City!" she shouted savagely, "If you want to catch up on your beauty sleep, you WILL be KICKED OUT!"

"Yes ma'am," he said faintly as he and Robin appeared at the top of the stairs.

"So what's up?" Robin asked.

"Well," Oracle said, "Besides the obvious fact that Bathole back home has security issues, there's a rouge, humanoid purple comet headed for Jump City as we speak."

"Uh…," Cyborg said, "Care to run that by me again?"

"You didn't hear me the first time? A humanoid, purple comet is on a collision course with—"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you, I just don't believe it."

"Well maybe this will convince you," she said, and set the helmet on phase 2: projection. She displayed the video file she had witnessed herself and said "This footage was taken by a satellite at 0101 hours and 12 seconds, meaning 21 seconds ago. This makes it less than one minute until im—"

BOOM! The noise blasted through the city and shattered every window within a five mile radius before fading away, leaving a painful ring in everyone's ears, "—pact," Oracle said dryly. But Robin was already at the window and staring at the pillar of water in the bay. As the millions of gallons ejected by the impact began to rain down on the city, he groaned.

"Oh, man," Robin said in a hushed voice, "That looks to much like a depth charge for my comfort."

"But for something that small to exhibit such kinetic force," Cyborg said, "It would have had to be approaching the speed of light: that's impossible!"

"Not if the energy supply isn't exhausted," Oracle said, "But the dynamics of faster-than-light travel is too intricate to explain right now: we need to get out there and handle it!"

Punctuating her statement, the earth below their feet shook violently, knocking Robin to his knees. The stabilizers in Cyborg's legs and Oracle's chair were able to weather the tremor, but none of the books in the shelves surrounding them could. They fell in a confusing rush of paper and might have fallen on Robin if Cyborg had not interposed his body. But the next instant, the two non-powered humans saw the real reason for his action….

The heavy, hardwood bookshelf had also toppled, and he was holding it up with his hands. If _that_ had finished the fall, it would have been the most humiliating death in the history of superheroes.

Cyborg smiled as he gently laid the bookshelf of to the side. "You owe me big time, Robin."

Suddenly, Oracle shouted, "Look there!"

When they came to the practically non-existent window, their eyes widened. I giant tidal wave was just crashing against the harbor, swamping the entire docks and storage system in fifteen feet of water as something so small in comparison it was laughable flew out in front of it. As they stared, it flew directly inland, across the small island in the bay, and barely making it past the shipyard before the fifteen foot wall of water crashed in a mess of seafoam and seasoning timbers.

"Well," Cyborg said quietly, "I guess this proves that Space magnifies everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Robin said with a scream and a wild look in his eyes.

"Well, If you would just look, that thing's hardly going 20 miles an hour now: hardly the speed of light. My guess is, whatever that thing is, it continued to use its flight capabilities even after reaching a good speed in space. Without the friction of an atmosphere, there's no such thing as terminal velocity. So its real abilities are actually less than a single percent of what we saw: so space makes everything greater than they really are."

"Well whatever you said, it still looks like it can kill us!" Robin said, pointing, "Cause it's headed our way!"

Before they could react, a green flash filled their field of vision.

A/N: Booyah! A cliffhanger for the very first time. Please tell me, honestly now: whadja think? Could I be any more awesome? Okay, that was a joke. I'm not narcissistic. But seriously, writing cliffhangers (or reading about them) always leaves me energized. I would love to here what you, the reader, got from this.

Oh yeah, and it didn't take as much time as I thought it would to publish this next chapter: even with College, I'm finding enough time to gratify readers…phew. Maybe it's because this is one of the few things I do with my free time.

_Next on Mind and Body: Chapter 10 - The Fire Within a Star_

_Later: Chapter 11 - When Primary Colors become Secondary_


	10. The Fire Within a Star

Author's Note: I do not own Teen Titans. I do own my version of the Tamaranean language, though.

**Mind and Body Chapter 10: The Fire Within a Star**

"Look out!" Cyborg shouted as he dove to the side. In passing, his arm knocked against Oracle's chair and knocked her sprawling. Luckily, Robin's instincts also allowed him to dodge as a ball of green light blasted through the wall and opened a path for the humanoid flying through the building.

"It's just like my dream," Robin said in a hushed voice, "That ability was in my dream!"

"What do you mean?!" Cyborg said angrily as he helped Oracle back into her chair, "What dreams? And how did reality find it's way from there?"

"Never mind," Robin said urgently as he shook his head, "Let's just stop it before it destroys half the city."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Cyborg retorted, "If I'd known this was the type of enemy we'd face, I would have taken a while longer to think about it before joining."

"First of all," Robin said angrily as he headed down the stairs, "I didn't exactly know that this was going to happen either, and second, we have an advantage here."

"Oh really?" Cyborg said sarcastically, "Would that be that it thinks we're _dead?_"

"No…." Oracle said in realization, "The advantage is that we can use Robin's dreams to learn more about the enemy. With that information, we could set up a counter attack expressly designed to neutralize this threat with the least collateral damage."

Robin shook his head. "As good as both those reasons are," he said, "neither was what I was thinking of." At the look in their eyes he smiled slightly, "I don't think she's an enemy."

"Whoah now, wait a minute," Cyborg said as he raised a hand in protest, "_She?"_

"Yes, she," Robin said, "That was the first thing I learned in those dreams: it's a girl."

Frowning, Oracle brought her helmet up to stage 2 again. "I think it's time you told us everything about your recent dreams, Robin."

"Are you sure this is a good time?" Cyborg said as he stared at his right arm.

"What are you doing?" Oracle asked.

"Oh yeah," Cyborg said, "I didn't tell you about my tracer?"

"No, you didn't."

"Oh, well I've had lots of free time to improve my software and upgrades, and one of the things I added was a tracking feature: it automatically downloads the signature of any being I've had contact with and allows me to see where it's going for the next 30 minutes. The connection naturally fades after that time. But that's besides the point! Look at this!"

When he showed them the screen they were blank. A purple dot was progressing smoothly parallel to the road, and seemed to be headed directly inland. "I don't get it," Robin said, "We know if we leave it too long we'll lose her, but running in without a plan in this situation is suicide."

"This is the problem," Cyborg said as he traced the hypothesized route. A purple line grew from the dot and continued straight even after the road split at a strange, triangular building.

"Seriously," Robin said, "what is wrong?"

"Man, that's my favorite pizza place! There's no way I'm gonna let a super-powered alien trash _Linguini's Pizzeria_!"

* * *

Raven, Beast Boy and Cael had just landed behind a building that proudly stated its name to be "The Roach Motel". Its otherwise bare brick walls sported a giant neon sign with its name. The leg of the "R" was fizzing out, making it the "Poach Motel", and the asphalt parking lot had a good dozen potholes scattered about. Only two cars were parked there.

Looking at the state of the place, Raven couldn't help but mutter, "I bet that beat up pick-up is the owner's ride."

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied, "And that Mitsubishi is his banker telling him he better shell out or get out."

"So…" Cael said reluctantly, "This means we sleep outside right?"

"Yup," Raven said simply.

"A couple rocks never hurt anyone," Beast Boy continued.

"Man, what do you two have against a soft mattress?"

"Nothing," Beast Boy laughed, "We're just against sleeping with bedbugs the size of dogs. Would you like an example?"

"Ah, no thanks," Cael said, sweating, then he stared at the sky in a mock attempt to see the good in the situation, "A blanket of stars is more comfortable than one of nice…down…feathers…."

"Dude," Beast Boy said with a shake of his head, (that was now his favorite word) "In a place like that, those 'nice down feathers' of yours would be untreated cotton. Way too itchy, man."

With a sigh of defeat, Cael followed them to a patch of wheatgrass that had less thistles in it then usual and tried to sleep with his jacket curled about him. He shifted as the cool inner of the jacket chafed on his skin and kept him awake. He turned to see Beast Boy shift into his ferret form, stretch, and crawl into Raven's flannel hood.

"Oh sure," he muttered as Raven curled up inside the vast former blanket in such away as to vanish within its folds, "you two never have a problem no matter where we stop."

* * *

"My calculations put her arrival at that shop of yours in thirty minutes," Oracle said before Robin could try to strangle Cyborg, "And as we have a ride that will take us there in 10, that gives us twenty minutes to come up with a plan and still get there in time. Besides, that's as good a place as any to take the battle to her."

"Fine then," Cyborg said, "Let's do this. What happened in your dreams Robin?"

He sighed and began from the first dream.

Once he was done, Oracle and Cyborg were both deep in thought.

Cyborg spoke up first. "So this girl can fly, is super-strong, can survive the trial of space without a suit _and_ throw pieces of the sun at her enemy? This is what I meant by 'not what I signed up for'."

"Enough, Cyborg," Oracle said darkly, making him cower just a little bit, "Believe it or not, I'm actually more worried about that ship: it would mean she was followed in the worst case. We must always keep it at the back of our minds."

"No, that's not the danger here," Cyborg said, his voice starting to rise, "At least those pursuers need something between them and deep space: this thing doesn't need that. Do you know what that means? Her body has to have an internal core of gravity that is many times stronger then an object that size can naturally develop.

"In other words, she has to be of far greater mass per cubic inch than anything on earth. Her home planet was probably much larger than this one, and that accounts for both her needed mass and her strength.

"In addition, she has to resist the sucking sensation of a vacuum, which means her cells attract each other more strongly than anything we know exists. That also applies to her faster-than light travel: her cellular cohesion level has to be so high that even those speeds don't tear them apart, which is the natural cause of energy production."

"So we know why she has these powers," Robin said, "But how do we stop her from using them?"

"Mostly we can't," Oracle said, "But the only one that really poses a major, unique obstacle are those starbolts."

"Hey, that's a good name for them."

"Why thank you, Robin."

"Way to go, Romeo," Cyborg whispered, and winced when Robin elbowed him in the side then held it to his own side in pain.

"As I was saying," Oracle continued as she finished her typing, "I've cross-referenced the composition of the sun with known materials that resist its effects, and the answer is a Titanium/Silver alloy sprayed with a bicarbonate coating. Luckily that is all easily done right here, so I set our machines to developing a shield for you Cyborg."

"Why me?" Cyborg asked.

"You're the one who's scared."

"I am not!"

"Ignore it, Cyborg," Robin said, "She does this with everyone. The reason is that I am more agile than you: I stand more chance of dodging her bolts rather than having to endure them. What's the plan, Oracle?"

"We'll head to the interception point," Oracle started immediately, "And station Cyborg on the restaurant's balcony. Her current altitude puts her at precisely that range anyway. The silver should add enough reflection to the titanium's strength that it edits out the starbolts entirely. An enemy at her height will force her to land, where the two of you will engage her at 135 degrees to each other. This will achieve the needed cross-fire—if your sonic cannon is up to it, Cyborg—and still keep the two of you out of each other's range of fire."

"Don't you worry about my cannon," Cyborg said proudly, "This baby is capable of putting out 1200 decibels at maximum power."

"Wow," Robin said with a sarcastic smile, "That's one hell of a sound system."

"Har-de-har-har," Cyborg said, "Luckily I also installed directional mirrors to focus the sound into a localized beam of energy. That's the only reason I don't shatter half of the windows in this city every time I let loose."

"That's quite the secret weapon," Oracle said while nodding in approval.

"What about my stuff?" Robin asked plaintively, "It's pretty cool, right?"

Oracle groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Oh please, God, give us another member to this team soon; we're going to need it. They were developed by Wayne Industries, Robin, of course they would be 'cool'."

* * *

Later that night Cael still couldn't sleep as his gaze shifted periodically to-and from the blue flannel pile that was his young friends, the admittedly-run-down motel not 20 yards away, and the thickly starred sky. A couple hours before he had seen a shooting star, which was supposed to be luck, but as it was green he didn't know what to think. He did, however, get the sense that he had witnessed something significant. If it would not be in his life, then it would be in the lives of his young charges.

He sighed and turned on his side, determined to get even the slightest bit of sleep before sunrise. However, before he could do that, Raven and Beast Boy stirred and Raven sat up. Beast Boy, on her shoulder, was staring urgently at the building with his beady ferret eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

"Fearful thoughts,"

"Bad vibes." They said at the same time. In the next instant, a scream broke out from the building in front of them.

With a reaction honed by ten years on the border of civilization and wilderness, the three of them sprang to their feet and began flying toward the building. They landed at the front porch and Cael kicked down the door.

His gray hairs shone silver in the faint light coming from a room to their right. They could see some shadows dancing in the light, but Rachel stopped the two others before they could advance: Cael in his martial arts stance, and Beast Boy in Silverback Gorilla form.

"Wait," she whispered, "there's a couple guards just inside the door: they're hoping someone hears the noise so they have someone to beat up. Also, there is a man threatening a woman further in."

_Can you get a lock on their position?_ Cael asked in his thoughts, but Raven shook her head.

"Leave it to me," Beast Boy whispered, and took his fly form. He buzzed stealthily through the door and landed on the ceiling. Once there, he changed into a gecko so as not to confuse the images. In his head he heard a voice that had been there for ten years now.

_May I borrow your eyes?_

_Of course,_ he said, _come inside my house._

_Shut up, BB._ Rachel said with a chuckle.

Beast Boy relaxed as he felt his consciousness be laid gently to the side and Rachel looked about the room with his eyes. They saw that besides the two next to the door, there was a woman standing in front of the man at a desk: she was wearing cut-off jeans and a black t-shirt with a white skull and crossbones splayed all the way across her chest.

_Some banker,_ Beast Boy thought, but Rachel's presence interrupted. _I don't think that's his banker, Beast Boy. Maybe we switched who had which car. Anyway, I've relayed the information to Cael and we're ready to go in on your signal._

_Not yet,_ he said suddenly, a chill having run up his back, _I think there's a little more going on here than we think._

"This is the last time, Mendel," the girl was snarling, "I need the money you owed my father, and you WILL pay up."

"But Janice, dear," the seedy man wearing an old suit said nervously, "can't we talk about this?"

"I'm tired of trying to get you to talk about it," the girl said in a low voice, "So I decided to beat it out of you instead."

Janice cocked a large fist back and prepared to let fly, but then the confusion let loose.

Five masked people burst out of a back room and launched themselves at her arms. As they restrained her, Janice called to the two men. "Hank! Johnson! Get these bastards off me!"

As the two giant men left their post, Raven and Cael pounced. They came in and Cael conjured a wall of fire around each man. But they hadn't noticed that there were new inhabitants. The two free ones turned to the approaching strangers and lifted up oddly short guns. But before they could fire Beast Boy changed back into a gorilla and fell from the roof.

As he descended, he slammed both fists into the ground right in front of them so as to buckle up the rotting wood. This threw the two men into the wall and knocked them out.

As the seated man stared in shock, one of the standing grunts left his allies to charge the three friends. Before Beast Boy could do anything, Raven had levitated the door out of its frame and slammed it into the soldier, leaving him with a heavy oak panel lying on top of him.

They turned to see Janice slamming her heels into the feet of the two holding onto her arms so that they let go. Then she turned and cocked her right fist once more. When the fist made contact, the man's face literally exploded in a mess of fire, blood and brains.

As everyone stared in shock, she turned to the last man standing and hit him a solid left hook to the jaw, again accompanied by a sickening _BOOM_.

"Well?" she snarled at the trio, "Who are you, what do you want and why are you staring?"

"Who we are has no meaning," Cael replied, "We wanted to make sure that the fight we heard ended the way it was supposed to, and you just made a man's face explode."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Actually, it does."

"Whatever," she shrugged, "you aren't trying to kill me after seeing what I can do, so I guess you're good guys. Wanna help me search for the money he was supposed to pay my dad off with?"

"What," Beast Boy said while still in gorilla form, "just like that?"

Janice stared for a second, then turned to Raven. "I see why you weren't surprised," then she turned back to Beast Boy, "Yeah, that's right, just like that."

"Sure, why not."

"You can't just answer for all of us, Gar," Raven said darkly.

"Eh," Janice said, "You don't have to come."

But when she started strolling down the hallway with the two stunned cow-hands at her side, the three of them followed readily enough.

After they had walked down 7 flights of stairs, Janice stopped at a large door.

"See," she said, "behind this door is another one with a lot more security, that's where the money is."

She immediately punched the door, blasting it off its hinges, to prove it.

Rolling her eyes, Raven allowed Beast Boy to become an osprey and settle on her shoulder. Then she floated forward and let her energy play over it. However, instead of ripping it off the hinges, she used an ability she hadn't often used since she learned it four years before. She let herself and Beast Boy fade through it and to the other side as she said, "You could use a little more finesse."

She very much enjoyed the woman's look of astonishment.

As Janice stared in shock, Beast Boy and Raven talked quietly on the other side of the door. "There's something bothering me," Beast Boy said quietly.

"What is it?"

"Well, those masked men seemed familiar for some reason. It just worries me that I can't figure it out."

"Considering your photographic memory," Raven whispered, "That worries me too."

At that point they heard Cael say "Aren't you going to go through?" and heard Janice snark back at him, "Sure, right when you tell me how I can use explosions to get through an explosion proof door."

Suddenly a small, white flame poked its way through the door and carved a large, rectangular hole in it. Cael stepped through, followed by a white-faced Janice. Raven turned to her and said, "So that's why you invited us: you couldn't do it on your own."

"Shut up."

They descended another flight of stairs and Raven then started talking to Janice. "So let me get this straight: that man up there owed your father money, and didn't pay up. Now you're taking it upon yourself to make him pay up. But because he's physically incapable of doing so at the moment, you've decided to just steal it."

"That's right," Janice replied brightly.

"I don't know who's right or wrong in this situation," she muttered, and Cael shook his head.

"Sometimes it's impossible to know," he said quietly as they reached the bottom step and saw a large, wooden chest across the room from them, "and you have to hope that your heart told you to do the right thing."

Janice opened up the chest, smashing the lock with a small explosion that also, conveniently, shredding the booby trap. When she lifted the lid, they found a large stack of gold bars.

"The guy is so much of a scrooge," Janice said ironically, "That he has enough money to buy out Ramada yet doesn't even fix this place up." She took out one of the bars, and moved to the scale set into the ground next to the chest. She weighed the bar, which came out at 8 pounds, and smiled in satisfaction. "It's a good thing he always keeps his gold in 8 pound bars," she said as she weighed two others and stuffed all three into a pack on Hank's shoulder.

"That's all we were owed," she said in reply to their looks, "so I'm not taking anymore."

"See?" Cael said after a while, "Your heart almost always knows what's right." Then he saw her picking up two other bars. "Hey, I thought…."

"These are for the damage control, and the inconvenience," she said, "And if you believe that one, you really need to learn from your experience, old man. Johnson! You pick up the chest; we're getting out of here. Hank can collapse the roof on these…unwanted guests."

"Damn it," he said as the girl and her cronies dashed up the stairs, "and sometimes they're completely wrong. She probably wanted us down here to do just that. No witnesses, after all."

* * *

The mini-jet that Oracle had been speaking of was cramped for two passengers—especially when one was twice as big as he should have been—but it's linear black curves and blacked-out windows belied its purpose for speed and stealth.

"God it's cramped in here," Cyborg complained, "I hope we don't have to keep this thing."

Robin shook his head from the pilot's seat. "Personally, I would like to keep it. But it's a loan from Batman so it goes when Oracle does."

"Really?" Cyborg asked as they flashed above the metropolis, a small black streak in the fading sky, "I thought she was staying?"

Robin laughed a little scornfully. "Yeah right!" he said, "She's Batman's top informant, as well as filling the same role for most major super-hero teams. It's not like she'll settle down with the 'newest kids on the block'."

"All right, I get it," Cyborg grumbled, "So when is she leaving?"

"When we have all five members of our team and we have confirmed that we are able to work as a team."

Cyborg found it a little difficult to resist launching into the 'Team vs. Family' speech, but he did it.

Suddenly they stopped. "Here we are," Robin said cheerfully, "keep all possessions firmly clasped to your chest, and don't forget to open your parachute."

"Wait, wha--?" Cyborg started to ask before the floor below him popped open and he reflexively clutched the oval sheet of specialized metal to his chest.

He managed to right himself and pull the string before he smashed into the roof of _Linguini's Pizzeria_, so when he landed he immediately shouted up at the stationary sardine-can of a heli-plane. "I am so gonna get you for that, Robin!" He bellowed.

Then he heard a voice in the intercom they were borrowing from Oracle. "Hey Cy," Robin's voice said over his protests against the nickname, "I'm going to try something: hopefully it'll end everything immediately."

"And what's that?" Cyborg asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I'm just going to attack with the heli-plane."

Oh come on," Cyborg said angrily, "for one thing, you're not sticking to Oracle's plan. For another, you're the one who dreams about this alien girl: do _you_ think that would succeed?"

"…No," Robin reluctantly admitted, "I wouldn't."

"Okay, then, let's do it by the book for once."

Robin grumbled a bit and said "Fine, but just this once: in the future, I will be giving the orders to the entire team."

"Agreed, agreed," Cyborg said lightly, and thought _Pompous brat_, _I sure hope the new members can do something about it._ Because he knew by now that the more he tried to get Robin to stop, the more stubborn he would be about it.

He took the shield and slipped it over his right arm, so he could still see that arm's sensors and have his sonic cannon free.

He managed to position himself on the balcony in front of the few customers just before the purple blur reached them. He heard a breath of shock run through the people behind him as a starbolt blasted forward and made contact with the special shield. Thanks to the titanium, it didn't dent; thanks to the carbonized covering the silver didn't melt; thanks to the silver and the curve there was nothing keeping the bolt in place. It bounced off at an angle upwards and to the left to land in a 20th story window of the skyscraper that discovered itself in the new path.

Cyborg's eyes bulged as the green light exploded, shattering that section of the wall and rimming the resulting hole in flame that quickly regained a familiar color. He quickly swiveled his head to look back forward to see an orange-skinned girl hovering in mid-air right in front of him. According to her expression, she was just as surprised as they were.

She turned to Cyborg and shouted _"Klarbag! Zof snoot krang yizelsnuf dragnad!"_

"Huh?" was all Cyborg was capable of saying.

Robin poked a finger in his ear and wiggled it around, saying, "I was able to understand it in my dream, so why not know?"

"Maybe because it was a dream!" Cyborg suggested sarcastically.

Then the girl interrupted, "Zeska, hagefti tren kurlszoon TURFLA!" After shaking his head, Robin charged.

"That language is making my head hurt: let's stop this right now!"

"Robin, you idiot!" Cyborg shouted, "Are you forgetting that we're…," but it was too late, and the girl fired one of her starbolts at Robin.

Quickly, Cyborg hurled the shield between them, and just managed to get it there in time: unexpectedly, the shield had reached the spot with its' straps facing directly at the starbolt. When it hit, the starbolt was focused by the reverse curve and sent back at its' launcher with even greater power. They heard a startled shout both in front of and behind them when it hit and exploded.

A quick glance behind him showed Cyborg that the few guests on the balcony were scrambling for cover.

"Um," Robin said quietly, "You were saying, Cyborg?"

Cyborg rubbed his eyes and said, "We're relying on your agility, not you suicidal tendencies." The smoke cleared and they say her still floating, her body unharmed.

"If that can't do it, nothing can!" Robin said.

Cyborg snorted as he jumped forward to plant a metal fist in her face. He could see that it hurt her, but he nonetheless was startled when tears started in her eyes. However, he had no time to think over this, as a fist seemingly harder than his returned the favor with interest. His breath left him faster than ever before as he was hurled to the ground and hit the asphalt below with enough impact to leave an imprint of his body. He sat up and aimed his now-deployed sonic cannon as Robin threw some disks at the girl.

Each disk exploded on contact, but as she was clearly unfazed Robin dived down beneath her and threw some more from below. These froze her before she could react, but in the next instant she had broken the sheaf of ice and dived down to confront him.

Robin barely dodged her punch and tried to get a kick in but it bounced off as she twisted to send a short jab into his stomach. He doubled over wheezing as Cyborg rushed in with both fists pounding, his sonic cannon too much of a risk for Robin.

The next couple of minutes were a confusion of fists flying and both boys finding themselves entirely out-classed thanks to their lack of teamwork. They got in each other's way constantly as they vied for the best angle at which to fire their attacks.

Cyborg's linear beam made it simple to predict, unfortunately, and soon the girl had figured out the timing. Immediately after a blast she dove in under the beam to get close to him. At the same time as he desperately fired again, some more of Robin's exploding disks flew in on a curving course.

The combination of the two attacks created an explosion that seemed to consist of sound waves flying in all directions. It shook the posts of _Linguini's Fettucini_ and elicited some screams from the people that hadn't managed to leave.

The girl seemed to have been knocked unconscious by this new blast, but as Robin slowly approached, she sat up abruptly and hit his forehead with the dome of her skull. He was on the ground writhing in unexpected pain when Cyborg quickly closed the distance.

She then grabbed his arm and started to spin him in a circle at an angle that, when released, flung him up three stories to land in the side of the building.

"Man," he said angrily just before he fell from his own indentation, "we're having our asses handed to us! By an alien girl!"

He groaned and tried to rise, but two sets of feet landed in front of him, facing away….

* * *

In an instant, as the ceiling collapsed all around them, Raven instinctively threw up a shield of black energy that kept all of the bricks from touching them. As they bounced off of her new shield, she stared at the bricks that should have crushed her and her friends.

"All right," Cael said, "How come you didn't do this when that Mountain Lion attacked us a couple years back?"

"She couldn't do it then," said Beast Boy in a hushed voice, "she has been slowly discovering all her powers for all her life."

"Okay," Cael said as the last brick hit the shield with a _clunk_ and fell to the side, "So what do we do now?"

"We get out of here somehow," Beast Boy said obviously, "But being stuck like this isn't going to help us fly out." He turned to Raven expectantly, "always before your powers have appeared in sets: what else can you now do?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," she said shortly, "But I have a feeling I know how to find out." She sat down with her legs crossed and let the shield collapse. With a deep sigh she went into the trance again.

_At first everything was black as she retained her ordinary sight, but soon enough her inner vision cleared to reveal an ancient black rock under her feet. Despite it's flat surface, Raven knew that the underside would seem as if torn from a mountaintop and left suspended as the rest was taken away._

_Surrounding her was a ring of statues that each showed a duplicate of her self. Directly in front of her there was a trio of statues: in the middle was another one of her self, but on her right there was a statue of Beast Boy and on the left was a statue of Cael._

_Then she spotted some cloaks rustling behind the statues and relaxed. Her duplicates had arrived. The first arrival was cloaked in red and always inspired disgust in her. When she had begun separating her emotions she had been sure to extract every bit of rage and hate she had ever possessed in the creation of this avatar: if even a scrap of her original hate remained she would never be able to keep her emotions under control and her powers would always be beyond her control._

_Luckily a yellow-cloaked Raven sporting glasses arrived immediately after. This was her avatar of Calculation, and the only thing that could prevent Rage from overtaking her completely._

_Soon afterward the Orange-cloaked Rude, the green-cloaked Bravery, brown-cloaked Despair, silver-cloaked Grief, purple-cloaked Reticence, gold-cloaked Love and pink-cloaked Happy soon followed._

_When all of them had arrived, she sat up straighter, eagerly awaiting the last arrival. Slowly, her white cloak swirling solemnly about her limbs, Instinct floated lightly into the center of the ring._

_She looked as Raven suspected her mother would: a taller version of herself with long hair and full lips. Instinct smiled softly and asked "What may we do for you, my dear?"_

"_I have recently been having new powers appear again," Raven began, "And I was hoping they could be explained to me. Would you happen to know what new powers I have recently come into possession of?"_

_Instinct shook her head, "My dear, you have not gained any powers since birth."_

"_What do you mean?" she asked in bewilderment, "I couldn't levitate before I did it a couple days ago, so I know I've gained that much…."_

"_No," Instinct said simply. She waved her hand and the other avatars vanished into thin air. Then she sat down and patted the ground beside her. "Sit next to me and I will tell you what it truly means to learn more about yourself."_

_To be continued…_

* * *

*Klarbag zof snoot krang yizelsnuff dragnad=Bastard! Just get out of my way right now please!

**Zeska hagefti tren kurlszoon turfla=Excuse me, but I really have to leave this place immediately or your doom will be certain, so LET ME GO!

A/N: Sorry this chapter was delayed a bit, but I am going to college after all. I hope you like this entry, and I REALLY hope you tell me if you did or didn't.


	11. Points of View

**Mind and Body Chapter 11: Points of View**

A/N: First of all, I'd like to apologize for the long, loooong wait, I simply have not had the same level of interest as before, and if I continue to write before the feeling returns (and I assure you, it has returned) then the story becomes a lot worse. I guess you could call the wait a dedication to quality. Also, I lost my charging cord and had to order a new one, then wait for it to arrive. Anyway, I don't own teen titans' characters, places or things. Any new additions are mine though. This includes the name, if not the species, of "Tunite". I also want to apologize if Argent is out of character—as I've only really encountered the animated series, I don't know enough about her character to make an accurate portrayal and I wanted a character that could only be called "obsessive" in order to have all types of "romantic" ties. Anyway, without further ado, let me give you what you came for:

_Previously on Mind and Body: Cyborg and Robin get a taste of their potential enemies' power, and Raven has willingly gone on a journey of self-discovery. They will all get unexpected help._

_ Raven couldn't help but reel at the words of the figure that represented her subconscious, "What it means to learn about myself?" she asked._

_ "Yes," Instinct said with a small smile, "To put it in as few words as possible, you are discovering different uses for the power you were born with. But it's not quite that simple. It also means that you are learning about certain parts of your personality that you are suppressing. Each ability is facilitated by your emotions, no matter if they are suppressed or expressed: it is your understanding on the subject of your self that allows you to use these new powers."_

_ Raven rested her head in her hands as she thought of this. Instinct cocked her head as she watched her, "It is also the reason I am telling you this. Instinct can access any abilities when under pressure, after all. But some of your abilities are specifically representative of an emotion. For example, your flight is rooted in Happy there." Upon looking in the direction her duplicate pointed, Raven saw Happy floating between pillars as she waved._

_ Suppressing her impatience, she said, "In that case, can you explain this in detail?"_

_ "And just what is it that you want 'explained in detail'?" Instinct replied._

"_Well, which abilities have I always had? Where did I have them if I wasn't using them? How can I _NOT_ know myself?"_

_Instinct sighed sadly, "To answer the last question first, you never know how you are going to react in a situation that you haven't encountered, right? Your telekinesis didn't activate until your life—excuse me, our life—was threatened. Do you know for certain that it would've reacted to a less stressful experience if you had it earlier?"_

"_No but…I guess I understand. So how many of these abilities did I have?"_

"_Like I said: all of them," Instinct said, "But I guess I should explain just what those abilities are. It all boils down to the fact that you possess two different forms of energy: black and white (even though the white translates as silver). The black energy lets you use the telekinesis, and the flight as well as a couple others. It is the white energy that allows you the ability to heal as well as being the source of your telepathy."_

"_Wait," Raven said in surprise, "You mean I was using the white energy before I was using the black?"_

Cyborg tried to blink the dust from his human eye but only the cybernetic replacement was clear when the three sets of feet landed in front of him. Although all he could see were the heels, it was pretty easy to tell that two of them were girls. After all, there were no men he had seen or heard of that wore stiletto heels.

He slowly looked up to see something that surprised him quite thoroughly:

Hotspot, Argent and Bumblebee were all standing in front of him, battle-ready.

As he watched, Robin flew through the air and landed next to him. Bumblebee glanced back with a smirk and said, "Want to see how real heroes do this?" she ignored his grimace and turned to the others, "I'll draw her fire, guys—,"

"And I'll get a hold of her while Hot Stuff gives his all!" Argent said impatiently, "Let's do this already!"

Bumblebee rolled her eyes and immediately charged the alien. She obviously intended to loop around the first blast, so Cyborg shouted "Just make sure her starbolts don't hit us!"

"Pfft," she replied, "Like that'll happ—oof!" a starbolt cut her cocky bravado short more effectively than anything else could have. Smoking slightly, she lightly bounced off of the wall and brushed off her costume. "That's not nice!" she shouted.

"You expected her to be?" Robin said heavily while Hotspot and Argent shouted, "We said, let's do this!"

"All right, okay!" she shouted, and immediately buzzed in an arc to arrive above her opponent on the left. "Come on girlfriend," she shouted as she shrunk to avoid a blast then zipped to her ear, "If we have to fight, at least tell us your name!"

Suddenly, a silver hand appeared and gripped the alien in an encompassing fist.

"Good job, 'bee," Argent said lightly, "It's your turn, Hothead."

With a snarl, Hotspot gripped his fists and let them transform into what looked like living lava while his head did the same thing. He thrust his hands forward to shoot a pillar of flame at the alien, but Bumblebee shouted, "Stop!"

At the expressions of confusion, Bumblebee re-grew to her original size and hovered in front of the alien, "I think she's just desperate," Bumblebee said to the others, "let me try to communicate with her."

Cyborg rolled his eyes as Bumblebee proceeded to humiliate herself with gestures toward herself and their prisoner, _Geez,_ he thought, _wasn't she spoiling for a fight just a moment ago? I will never understand women._ When Bumblebee pointed to herself, saying her own name, then pointed at the alien, he almost laughed out loud, _Like that would work: it's only in the cheesy sci-fi films that her approach works._

So of course he was shell-shocked to hear the first partially understandable word out of the alien's mouth: "Koriand'r", she said breathlessly, "Koriand'r."

With a smile Bumblebee said, "You know, it would be a lot easier for us to talk if the breath wasn't being crushed out of you," with a sigh that could've been translated as disappointment, Argent let Koriand'r go, dismissing the structure of neutral plasma that had extended from her hand.

Garfield stared nervously as Raven's forehead started to sweat. He swished his tail in heightened tension as her brow furrowed and her breath quickened. Cael muttered, "I hope she's alright," as the feelings spread to him as well.

Raven woke with a gasp and landed abruptly on the floor. "Whoa," she said quietly, "Not exactly what I was expecting."

Garfield hopped into her lap and asked, "What did you learn?"

"Well, something really strange actually," Raven said, "I learned that my powers are actually simple: so simple it doesn't seem like they would be this powerful."

Cael raised both of his eyebrows in fascination. "Really?" he asked, "It is said that simplicity is always closest to the truth: if you have found the simplest explanation of your power, then you may have found the door to wielding it at 100 percent."

She placed her feet in front of her and rested her arms against her knees. "Even if I have, I think it will take a really long time before I can use it at that level. Anyway, my power is the ability to manipulate two opposing energies: Black and White. Every single one of my abilities finds its root in one form of energy or the other."

Cael couldn't help but lick his lips at the idea of new knowledge. "Would you mind explaining which abilities come from which energies?"

"Um…" Raven said uncomfortably, "All right: the white energy is the source of my telepathy and healing while the black is the source of everything else: the telekinesis, flight, intangibility and so on."

"Huh," Garfield said, "That really is simple. But…I feel that this means there's a change of plans and I don't know if it means we get to Jump City earlier or later."

"I'm simply along for the ride," Cael said, "so it's up to you two where we go from here."

Garfield quietly watched Raven as she looked up from the ground. _This is pretty big, so what'll she do?_ He thought, _I know she wants to see what this recruiting scheme is all about, but her powers have always taken preference: will she go for the whim or the duty? And which choice is which?_

Raven sighed and said, "I'll practice my abilities in the closest safe area until I can control them better. The only question is, where is that?"

Suddenly, Garfield felt a prickling in his fur. For an instant his mind was nearly overwhelmed by white, only punctuated by the muted cries of Raven trying to figure out what was wrong. After an unknown period of time, even those faded and Garfield was completely submerged in the monotone. _Okay, something is seriously messed up right now,_ he thought; _I'm clearly in danger, so why haven't my instincts kicked in?_

But something was happening to the background as he thought this. The white started to peel away from the edges of his "vision" and coalesced into the form of Raven, but this time she was wearing white.

_Um, are you who I think you are?_ He asked silently.

_Yes: I am Instinct," _she said in return, _I had hoped something of this nature would happen, but not in quite this manner or place._

_So just what is this? And can I get out of it?_

_Not until we're done talking,_ Instinct said severely, _and I'm sure you have a lot of questions._

_You could say that, _Garfield said flatly, _like just what is this, why did it happen, and how did it happen._

Instinct chuckled and said, _This kind of conversation is more to my liking: this is a visitation. It happened because of your connection to me…Raven, Rachel, Instinct, whatever you want to call me…and the how is that I have finally realized how to discover and use new powers whenever I want to. But if I was able to do so, then I would have limitless power, which is extremely dangerous no matter what the situation is. Because of that, there is a 'safety valve' of sorts: you will be given the knowledge instead as it becomes necessary, and you can share it with my conscious self whenever she needs it._

_Huh,_ Garfield said, _As bogus as that sounds, I think you're telling the truth._

_I'm afraid so._

_Well okay, we'll see how it goes for now._

Instinct smiled and then started to fade from his inner eye, _That is all I ask_ floated to the surface of his mind as he became newly accustomed to the outside world.

Bumblebee smiled as Koriand'r slowly stood back up, holding her back as if it pained her. It probably did, seeing as a mental construct had no real limits. "So, Koriand'r," she said slowly, "how about we figure something out on how to really communicate. It would be nice to understand something you're saying."

A couple of feet in front of her, she could see Robin in all his gaudy colors slowly standing up. _Great, this won't be easy,_ she thought. But very soon she was proven wrong as Koriand'r stepped up matter-of-factly in front of Robin and kissed him on the lips.

Everyone was shocked, but Koriand'r didn't give them much time to think about it before turning. "There," she said clearly in English, "Now we will not have any of the troubles in our communications. What I said before was that I must get out of any populated sectors before my pursuers arrive…. Why are you all staring at me? It makes me feel like a Grobnik-tikat."

She felt that her question was reasonable, but the aliens in front of her still stared at her numbly. "Well?" she asked, "What is the matter?"

"Y-y-you just…KISSED me!" The short one with the odd pelt said numbly.

"Actually," she said as if talking to a toddler, "your phrase for what I was doing would be 'learning the language'."

"So you're saying…you kiss people to talk to them?" The black and yellow female said with an odd curiosity, "You don't…show affection that way?"

"Ah, no," she said severely, even imminent doom wouldn't stop her from correcting a misconception, "The way we show affection is to place our Krithna on the subject's Jolnook."

"The what on the what now?" The half metal, dark-skinned figure said blankly.

"The Krithna…you call it the back of the hand…on the Jolnook, or as you know it, the forehead."

"We do that to check if someone has a fever," the silver one said dryly.

"Or if we think the target is insane," the all-black one said with a snigger.

Shrugging away the fact that she had no idea what they were talking about, Koriand'r got back on the first subject. "As I was saying, I really need to leave this city: there are Tunites after me and I cannot allow harm to befall innocent extra-terrestrials."

"Um, look, miss," the metal one said, "You're the alien, here."

"Maybe to you I am, but to me, you are."

"Good point," the kaleidoscopic alien said with an odd note in his voice, "It looks like she's not going to harm humanity, so maybe we should just let her go."

"Koriand'r watched all of the other beings give him weird, long looks before nodding.

"Okay then," he said, "You can go, Koriand'r."

"First, however," Koriand'r said, "it is considered respectable by my people to know the appellations that any foes in battle go by."

"Of course!" the kaleidoscope said, "I'm Robin."

"I am Cyborg," the metal one said net, as if the mere action was painful and he wanted to get it over with.

"Bumblebee," the black and yellow female said with a grin, "But you already knew that."

"I'm Argent," the silver female said, "And don't think I'll be afraid to use my powers on you if you enter my territory again." Accompanying this announcement was a small glance towards Robin. Koriand'r thought that the mating dance of these aliens must be similar to the use of plumage by what these people called birds. It was the only way she could think of for such clashing colors to arouse hormonal interest in the girl…though the other girl was unaffected, so maybe the silver one was just in heat?

Koriand'r shrugged again as the introductions moved on.

"Hotspot," the fully black one said flatly.

"Very well then: I thank you for this service, and I will be going now," and she immediately flew away.

"All right, team," Robin said, "Let's follow her. We don't want to let her hurt any more people, do we?"

Looking around quickly, he pouted at the sight of all four of his fellows staring at him disapprovingly. "What?" he said petulantly, "It's a legitimate reason."

"But it's not the real reason," Bumblebee said as she crossed her arms.

"I'm not sure I get what you're saying."

"Man," Cyborg said, "Even I can see you just want another kiss, and I haven't actually interacted with other people for 10 years."

"Me?" Robin said incredulously, "Now why would I want…I don't…seriously…I can't just…."

"Oh, I get it," Bumblebee said with a crooked grin, "you think that other girl…um…Oracle! You think Oracle would disapprove and you hope she would disapprove for a…personal…reason, right?"

Robin flushed and turned away, climbing the high-rise to jump from roof to roof in an attempt to escape her.

Argent stomped after the others as she fumed. _That, that, UH!_ She thought, _that ALIEN! I won't let her get my Robin! And that guy, how dare he fall for someone else? I swear I'll get him back no matter what._

As it was, though, the only thing she could do was to follow behind them all and do what she could to trip them up without being noticed. _Sorry, Rob, _she thought sadly, _but I'm doing this for your own good. No one could treat you like I would._ When they arrived at the next fork she used a small construct to make a billboard on the left side fall down.

"That way!" Robin said, and dashed down the left road.

_Wait, that worked?_ Argent thought, but decided that anything would be alright as long as she kept them within city limits. After all, the alien had said she was leaving town.

"How can you take that as evidence, man?" Cyborg said in exasperation, "she passed this point too long ago to have anything to do with the noise, and she even SAID that she wasn't going to stay!"

"Oh, right," Robin said, immediately changing direction.

_Damn it!_ Argent thought.

They all ran or flew as best befit them in silence for an interminable amount of time until Bumblebee filled the silence with her normal brutal honesty, "So tell us about that Oracle, Robin."

_Oh screw you! _Argent said in the silence of her soul.

"She's strong…in more ways than anyone else I know, really." Robin said quietly as he slowed down.

_Huh? _Argent thought, and then said, "What do you mean?"

Robin stayed quiet for a while, and then said "Well, even when crippled after she led such an active lifestyle, she's simply bounced back; she adapted to the change and continued doing what she wanted to no matter what." He smiled sadly, "It didn't matter that the one who did it to her would certainly reappear if she continued: she would meet that obstacle when she came to it."

He stopped entirely and the others followed suit. "I don't know how she did it. When Batman's parents were killed…and when mine were killed…well the only thing we could do was try to get revenge. We didn't look to the future and try to live—we couldn't move on and live the life we had dreamed about and that our parents would've wanted us to live.

"But she always wanted to be a crime fighter, no matter how good or bad her life was at the time. I envy her spirit. Though I could do without some of her jokes."

"Wouldn't Koriand'r be too far to look for now?" Bumblebee and Cyborg said then.

"AH! YOU'RE RIGHT!" Robin said in horror, and then he slumped his shoulders.

_Heehee,_ Argent thought to herself, _Thank you, Bumblebee, even if you annoying for mentioning that Oracle girl. And why is that machine dude SUPPORTING HER? Ugh, I really hate all men that aren't Robin._

Cael was smoking a cigarette that he'd found as he approached their temporary hideaway. Positioned between the two tallest hills for miles, Raven had telekinetically pushed up the earth on either open end in order to make a bowl-shaped area approximately 1/4th of a kilometer in diameter. Here she had requested that Cael leave them be for 5 days as they discovered ways to use and combine the abilities at her command

It was the morning of the 6th day, and Cael was highly anticipating the results. His quick eyes easily spotted a green wolf that was watching from the higher hilltop.

"Hey, Garf—I mean Beast Boy!" he shouted, "Is Raven done?"

"Hey old fart," Beast Boy replied, "she's gotten a lot better! You should see her! Haha, if I had to compare her to technology, I'd say she's a Stealth Bomber!"

"That good, huh?" he said as he climbed the hill, "Then I'd better let her know I'm coming before something happens…why are you grinning?"

"There's nothing to worry about now," Beast Boy said simply, "She no longer lets her emotions get in the way. Except for me, it seems."

"Hmph," Cael said with a smile, "That's because you've been together since the beginning, correct?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy said as he stood and stretched, "I guess so."

"You know," Cael said as he arrived at the peak, "very soon now you'll have companions that won't have anything near the same connection you two do. You'll most likely be living in the same house, and both of your lives will be in their hands at one point or another. Are you sure that you can stand that? Not being able to protect her?"

Beast Boy sighed as he sat on his haunches, "Honestly, no. But we'll have to have more friends at some point or we'll go insane. Heh, friends are worth putting your life on the line for."

Cael smiled, "Good answer. But I have one more question…," the valley below them came into view, consisting entirely of shattered boulders and upturned dirt, "what the HELL happened?"

Beast Boy hung his tongue out of his mouth and said, "She'll tell you when we get there."

"How do you know she won't refuse?"

"She told me," he said simply. And Cael smiled at the implication.

"So you also enhanced your connection as well—that should be useful."

Raven was found to be hovering in the center of he valley with her hood up and the sleeves completely covering her hands.

Beast Boy approached her from the front and sat directly across from her before saying in an announcer's voice "Let the exhibition begin!"

Rachel chuckled at his sense of theatrics before lifting the first foot of soil from everywhere except her guests feet and condensing it into a sphere just above her head. The next thing she did was to focus all her pressure inward to make the soil as dense as stone before lifting all of the rock chunks into the air at different heights and distances all around them.

Letting the compressed construction go, she was suddenly cloaked in a black energy that left her body and traveled around, going through some rocks, destroying others, and sending a few of the remaining against what was left. Evacuating the earthen fort, the shade then went due west for five minutes before returning.

Then Rachel woke up and smiled, "it seems we're closer to Jump City then I thought: it should only be another day before we reach the outskirts."

"You know that?" Cael blinked.

"Yes," she said, "I learned how to separate my spirit from my body over the past 5 days, so I can spy out anything I want to know. That and the compression I first demonstrated are the two things I learned."

Cael's sweat ran thick down his face as he thought, _how powerful have you become? And how much more powerful will you be in the future?_

A/N: Just so the viewers know…reviews grease my creative cogs. The more support for my story, the more of my story there will be to support. I still say they're more in the nature of perks in addition to the joy of writing, but I can't deny that they really help me. Oh, and don't be afraid to review more than once.


	12. Chapter 12

**Mind and Body Chapter 12: Encounter on the Roadside**

Cyborg sat limply in the leather chair with his arms on the outside of the armrests, his legs straight out, heels digging into the floor and chin resting on his chest.

"Are you saying you couldn't stop her?" Oracle said incredulously as she stared at all of the gloomy faces around her wheelchair, "You had the special shield I designed for the purpose, you had a strategy worked out before hand…you even had the unexpected assistance of _these_ three jocks," she gestured to Bumblebee, Hotspot and the pouting Argent, "yet you still failed to capture her and bring her back here?"

"Look," Robin said with his arms crossed, "she was untouched by most of our attacks—only our most powerful attacks did anything against her, which we definitely didn't expect."

"What about something that was designed only to restrain?" Oracle said severely, "You must have thought of that?"

"Err…."

"You did, but you didn't use it? Or you let her go? It has to be one of those for you to act like that." She said. In reaction, Hotspot stood up and left the building.

Oracle watched him go and sighed. "Seriously, I don't know how Bats survived with you around."

"Hey!" Robin said angrily, "that was uncalled for!"

"Right, right," Oracle replied, "Sorry."

Argent was staring hotly at Oracle the entire time, and when Oracle turned to her, she looked away. "We weren't there to begin with, so don't blame us." She said.

"I wasn't," Oracle rebutted, "I was going to ask why you helped."

Argent blinked and replied, "I…well…," she flicked a glance in Robin's direction, "it was needed." She completed quickly, "without our help, their failure woulda been miserable."

"Mmm," Oracle said from her wheelchair, "a crush. Great, another fangirl—this one with superpowers."

Argent leapt up at that and left the room with a growl.

Oracle glanced around and asked, "So Bumblebee, does this mean you would agree to join?"

Bumblebee shook her head with a small smile, "No such luck. The unfortunate thing about animal-based abilities is that my instincts are extremely heightened. It's good in the midst of a battle, but 'fight or flight' is a particularly annoying one. I would inevitably betray you. Especially if the enemies are strong enough to capture what we faced today."

"What do you mean?" Oracle asked curiously.

"Oh, we managed to talk to the E.T." she said.

Oracle turned to Robin and Cyborg in disbelief, "And you didn't tell me this why?"

"I think Cyborg is just depressed at his failure," Bumblebee said, and then a wicked grin grew across her face, "But Robin is probably trying to keep the kiss a secret."

Robin was stricken by the casual dropping of that bomb, and Oracle was surprised into silence.

"…Care to explain?" she asked quietly.

"The alien was a girl," Robin said, "And apparently that species learns languages by kissing someone that already understands it."

Oracle nodded slowly, "I see…I'll leave it at that for the moment."

Argent coughed from the doorway, apparently hiding a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort.

"Is something the matter?" Oracle prompted.

"Nothing," Argent said flatly.

"I guess I can leave that alone as well," she said, "…for now."

That morning, Raven and Beast Boy were both ready when Cael peeled open his eyes. His first view was the walls of the Raven-made valley and a bright blue sky with hardly any clouds. Then he noticed that there was a giant blue blanket wrapped around him, only leaving his eyes and mouth clear.

"I don't want you getting sun stroke in your sleep," Raven said as she sat cross-legged about five feet to his right.

Cael blinked. Come to think of it, other than those first moments they had met, all those years ago, he had never seen Raven without that cloak. Whenever she had gotten new clothes to match her growth she understandably sought privacy. He was completely unprepared for how beautiful she really was.

Granted she was a little short, but she had perfect proportions and carried herself with dignity. Life on the edge hadn't touched her body to the extent it had touched his own, thanks to her powers, but even so there was a hint of steel in her slender limbs. Her hair was cropped at the chin, but quite even, and the purple color shone with the reflected sunlight.

However, that didn't mean any more of her body was exposed to the sunlight. Her black turtleneck, long pants and boots still covered almost her entire body, and the skin of her face and hands was pale.

He shook himself loose of his bemused observations to carefully unwrap her cloak from his body and stand up. "Hmmm…," he said, "You read my mind, right?"

"This time, no," she said with a smile that started a sparkle in her deep purple eyes, "now that I can stop reading minds whenever I want, I've decided to only use it when it's absolutely necessary." Cael shook himself again and gave her the cloak back.

"Thank you," she said as she settled her feet on the ground and swung the cloak over her shoulders in one clean movement. Cael took in a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. By the time he reopened them, the cloak was back on, masking the body Raven had developed without his realizing it.

_It might get a little dangerous for her to be around me,_ he thought, being completely honest about his body's wants, _but I bet I'm old enough to control it…I think._ He sighed, _This is going to be difficult: I've never thought of her as anything but someone that needed help—at first—and later as the daughter I never had, but now my body is in complete opposition to that view._ His mouth twitched ironically, _looks like I need to start meditating again._

"Is something wrong?" Raven asked while Beast Boy groaned and covered his wolfish snout with a paw.

"No! No," Cael said with a laugh, "nothing's wrong at all." He was just forced to revise his views.

"Okay," Raven said suspiciously, "What about you, Beast Boy?"

"Let's just say I wish I could turn off instincts as easily."

Cael blushed at that and turned away quickly. Firing up his feet, he levitated from the ground and said, "Shouldn't we be going?"

Raven nodded—and Beast Boy turned into a falcon—before lifting off and setting off to the southwest, in the direction of Jump City.

They had been flying for about 45 minutes or so before Raven noticed the black speck on the horizon. Curious about the speck's erratic flight path, Raven stretched her mind towards it.

The shock she received was incredible. "Whoa," she said as she let out her breath.

"What is it?" Cael said as Beast Boy picked up her urgency and translated it into ruffled feathers, "Is something wrong?"

"It's that black patch in the distance," Raven said, a little out of breath, "it's sapient, and not human."

"Not human?" Cael asked, baffled, "how can it be sapient and not human?"

"As in its thoughts aren't structured the same way as ours?" Beast Boy suggested heavily, "In the same way that animals and humans have different core priorities, this mind is completely unconcerned with subjects any of the three of us might think of as paramount."

"And how do _you_ know this?" he asked in irritation.

"Well if you would hold off on popping a vein for a moment," Beast Boy said with equal sarcasm, "you might remember that we mentioned our connection was closer than ever."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I sometimes get flashes of what she sees," Beast Boy said.

"It's coming our way," Raven warned.

A flustered Koriander zipped by them only to stop, swoop up, look around, groan and go back to searching for something inexplicable. All three stared at her with wide eyes.

"Ooh," Koriand'r said in exasperation, and then she spotted the three of them. "Excuse me," she said, "do any of you know where I can find some…in your language it is Neon, yes?"

"You're an alien, aren't you?" Raven asked.

"Are you not alien to these people as well?" Koriand'r asked in reply.

"Well that's one way to put it," Raven said heavily, "Beast Boy, what's the matter?"

"Duuuuude," he said slowly, "That's a real alien. COOL!"

"Excuse me," Koriand'r said in response, "But did that Earth Animal call me a 'dude'?"

"What," Cael said, "You're not surprised that he can talk? Or that he's green?"

"Are not all of the native species capable of this mode of speech?" Koriand'r replied, "and I have seen some much stranger colors on other individuals here."

Cael shook his head as Beast Boy piped up, "I like her!"

"I thank you, Little Green One," Koriand'r said with a smile, "But how are you not 'the frightened' when it comes to my presence? And where did you say that neon was, again?"

Beast Boy was in the form of a Pronghorn Antelope and had one of the "Budweiser" signs strapped to his back when he returned to find both Cael and Raven absorbed in Koriand'r's descriptions of life in outer-space.

"And so one of the tenants of the Tunite race decrees that any slaves that escape are to be slain on sight: they are quite an evil race of-."

"Ahem," Beast Boy said to Koriand'r's surprise, "I brought that neon you were looking for."

"Oh thank you, Little Green One!" she shouted in relief.

"You're welcome," he said awkwardly, "you can repay me by recapping what I missed. And just what are you going to do with that—oh, _gross._" He shuddered when Koriand'r snapped off the "R" and downed the contents after doing something to liquefy it.

Koriand'r took one look at his limp tongue and seized it. "You look sick," she said, "have some of this." And she dabbed some neon on his tongue before he could pull away.

"ACK!" Beast Boy shouted as Raven sprung up, her power flaring, "Pthooi, pthooi…ugh." he spat urgently to get it out.

"What is wrong?" Koriand'r asked innocently.

"Neon is poisonous, you ET!" Raven snarled, "You almost killed him!"

"What?" Koriand'r asked in fear, "No it is not! On the contrary, Neon is what flows through Tamaranean veins—we need it to access our inner energy and keep our immune system running smoothly. We can't live without it."

"I think you should tell us your name," Cael said severely, and Koriand'r bent her head in shame.

"My name is Koriand'r; or in your tongue, Starfire. But I did not know Neon was so deadly to the natives of this planet. Can you explain what your bodies replace it with?"

Cael looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then turned to his two companions. "It's your call," he said, "do we trust her?"

Raven shook her head shortly, but Beast Boy shrugged. "Honestly, First Contact could've gone far worse. At least my immune system would've eventually fought it off. But what if it had happened to you, Old Timer?"

"Good point," Cael said before turning back to Starfire, "I guess you're off the hook: if the one you poisoned is still willing to trust you, then I don't see why I can't. In any case, our bloodstream is composed mostly of iron. That's why it's red."

"Oh my," Starfire gasped, "how is it that your species survives?"

"Life finds a way," Raven said, "but I think the way to my forgiving you is closed."

"Come on, Rae," Beast Boy said with shining eyes, "She's an ALIEN! Oh, and she probably doesn't know Earth Anatomy."

"We'll see," Raven said slowly.

Robin was standing at the window staring into the harbor when Oracle wheeled her way up to his side. "You've been staring at the water for hours, Robin," she said, "please tell me why you are so worried."

Robin didn't react in the slightest, so Oracle continued, "Seriously, I think you haven't blinked since you were defeated so humiliatingly by a girl."

"Shut up!"

"Finally, a reaction. Now tell me what has you so tense, Robin."

Robin sighed, "Well, that Koriand'r mentioned she was running from some sort of interstellar slave trader or something. I'm worried they'll come here in search for her."

"Oh come on," Oracle replied, "The universe has had you humiliated enough for one day: you deserve a rest." Robin smiled at her before realizing what she said. Moments later, a sub-sonic wave washed over the town as the clouds slowly bellied out and broke to reveal the hull of a ship so large that it covered the entire city.

"God damn it," Oracle said.

"Oracle!" Robin said in shock.

"What?"

"You said 'God damn it'!"

"So, I'm Christian right now. Christians are allowed to say 'God damn it'. Especially when they have the 4th highest IQ ever measured and somehow forgot Murphy's Law."

Robin rolled his eyes at that, said "You're Agnostic!", and dashed downstairs to be joined by Bumblebee and Cyborg. "Where're your running buddies?" Cyborg asked Bumblebee, "Something tells me we'll need 'em."

"They'll be on their way immediately after they notice the giant floating metal thing," Bumblebee said. Then there was a noise as the door burst open, "In other words, " Bumblebee continued, "that's them now."

We have no idea what we're up against," Robin said as Argent and Hotspot stood there panting, "So let's get loaded for bear."

"We all have powers, remember?" Bumblebee said with a grin, "You get your toys and we'll be waiting outside."

Oracle called Robin from the balcony, "Robin, come help me into the Gyro Chair!"

"Whoa, waitaminnit," Robin said in surprise, "You're getting in on the action?"

"Of course," she replied as Robin climbed the stairs, "We'll need all the firepower we can get, right?"

"Right," Robin finished, and he picked her up before climbing a smaller set of stairs in the left corner. Opening it, he squeezed into the relatively small room and settled her into the chair in the center. It looked like an ordinary chair from a fighter plane, but it was attached to five different circular steel beams. Hanging in front of the chair was a viewing screen that lit up immediately after she settled in.

"Now go," Oracle said quietly, "You're always best on the front lines."

Robin nodded and grabbed five communicators before leaving the building. Gathering his current companions, he immediately began driving his motorcycle to the bay as what looked like a giant spike landed on the little island in the middle. As they approached, the upper half of the spike split into four and hinged outwards, deploying a hologram field that showed a giant, green-skinned, finned face. Said face initially garbled something that seemed utter nonsense.

Then it turned away from the audience and said "What? These primitive life forms speak a language as cumbersome as English? God, can't anyone come up with something original? Oh whatever: hear me, citizens of Earth, our sensors indicate you are harboring an alien fugitive. It is only five feet tall, has orange skin, red hair and green eyes. It has four limbs and stands on the hind two, not like the Orgoliths of Rigel, that stand on the front two. You shall have 3 hours to deliver said fugitive to this bucolic locale or your planet will be obliterated. "

"Oh good," Cyborg said, "He's giving us three hours."

"You know what," the giant Tunite head said, "screw this. I hate waiting: death to you all! I'll just sift my target out of the remains."

"Murphy's Law, Cyborg," Robin said angrily, "Murphy's Law."

"Speaking of which," Cyborg said as a pod dropped in front of them, cracking the tarmac, "was what Oracle said about her IQ true?"

"Are you doubting me?" her voice came out of their communicators.

"Oh no, no," Cyborg said nervously as a platform extended from the portal, "I was just hoping you were #3, seeing as we need all the brains we can get."

"Sorry," she said with a distinct pout to her voice, "But some back-water hick named Lucas stole that title from me. On the other hand, I'm the one with the cool toys."

"Where are you, anyway?" Cyborg asked as the portal started to glow blue.

"Back at the mansion," Oracle said, "but the radio-controlled fighter plane is right above you. Don't look up here! They're coming out of the pod!"

"Come to think of it," Robin said as he threw some grenades at the first dozen to approach, "Why did only one pod land? And how are so many fitting in there?"

"It must be a short range teleportation device," Oracle said, "Let's take it out."

They charged over the heads of the already present warriors, but those warriors quickly latched themselves onto the team's legs and dragged them down. They were able to shake the aliens off, but no one was wiling to risk that again so Bumblebee tried flying to it.

An energy blast knocked her out of the sky, and half a dozen enemies drew in around the teleporter, so they had to take them all down by hand. Fortunately, it was relatively easy at first but the sheer number of them began to push the heroes back.

"So why are you following us?" Raven asked Starfire, "You don't even know where we're going."

"But I do not know how to navigate this world's continents," Starfire replied, "It is much better to follow the lead of a native in such matters."

Raven shrugged, "I guess that's logical."

_Looks like you're starting to like her,_ Beast Boy thought.

_Well you were right, when you ignore the fact that she has all of zero knowledge about our races, she's quite logical._

Cael shook his head again.

"That is the 31st time he has turned his head from shoulder to shoulder in the past 25 minutes," Starfire mentioned in curiosity, "Is this normal for him?"

Raven shook her head and Beast Boy stifled a laugh.

"Is something 'the funny' about this situation?" Starfire asked.

"Sure," Beast Boy replied, "Cael's shaking of his head was what you were asking about, and she just did the same thing. It isn't normal for him, but it was still funny."

Raven sighed, and fell silent.

"Umm, Raven?" Starfire asked.

"Yes?" Raven said in a tired voice.

"I was wondering…do you contain—err, I mean do you have—any abilities beyond this method of flight?"

"Yes." She said shortly.

"Well, does that include some method of confirming the condition of those you're concerned about?"

Raven blinked at her and said, "Well I suppose a combination of my 'Soul-self' and Telepathy could do something like it, why?"

"When I arrived on this planet," Starfire explained, "I met a group of natives that had mistaken me for an invader. They tried to protect their town by fending me off, and I'm afraid that my pursuers will land in the same place. Knowing their tendency to get into any situation that they can affect, no matter the danger, I am afraid they may try to fight the Tunite commander."

Raven nodded slowly, "Alright, let's land and we'll try this."

They glided silently to land just out of sight of the road. Raven crossed her legs and gestured to Starfire to do the same in front of her.

Cael shook his head.

"32," Beast Boy said with a grin, and Cael responded with a sharp look and a flush of the cheeks. He shook his head again to empty the angry thoughts from his mind.

"Don't even think about saying '33'," he muttered.

"Could I have some quiet please?" Raven asked.

"Yes, of course," Cael said, "don't mind us."

Placing her hands on Starfire's temples, Raven took a deep breath and entered gently. It was surprisingly easy the second time, probably as a result of the human nature of her worries. It seemed as if hundreds of suspended screens rushed past her at incredible speed, each one encapsulating an entirely different moment in her alien life.

It was simple to move on to Starfire's memories of Earth, as very little existed, but it was more difficult to find specifics. Eventually, she had to let Starfire's own memories guide her to what was concerning her the most. She alighted upon a group of kids about her own age, led by someone dressed entirely in primary colors.

_I guess those people are the ones?_ She asked mentally, _don't you think the real worry is his fashion sense?_ She bit her mental lip when Starfire's nervousness came through. _Sorry about that,_ She said.

As she had never activated one of her powers while in someone else's mind, she had no idea what might happen to her. To make sure she wasn't trapped, she let a piece of her soul self remain inside her own body as she separated. In her mind's eye, she remained connected by a shining, black thread.

In front of her, a yellow-gold thread appeared, trailing from the image to the golden glow surrounding all the images that represented Starfire's consciousness.

Looking closer, she could see that the thread actually connected to the kid that led the group, rather than the image itself. She thrust her mind forward onto the thread, and suddenly found herself outside of Starfire. Hovering above everyone, she saw that she was still above her friends. Looking around, she found the same golden thread—now a golden cord—attached to Starfire. It was headed in their original direction, so she immediately started to follow it.

As she began, she couldn't help but notice that everything seemed to be frozen in time. Even the birds were caught in mid-flight, causing her to think that she was doing everything within the space between seconds. She found herself following the cord to Jump City, where she saw hordes of strange fish-people caught in the moment of pushing back a pitifully small group of people. Even though nothing was moving, it was clear that the humans were on the verge of being overwhelmed.

In an instant Raven snapped her soul-self back into her body and left Starfire's mind.

"What did you find?" Starfire asked urgently.

"Nothing good," Raven said, "All your worries are coming true."

"Then I must return to that city!" Starfire said, "I cannot let anyone else lose their lives for my sake!"

Ignoring the hint of a dark past, Raven nodded. "Go in that direction," she said, pointing the way they had already been traveling, "The city will be there, and you can help your friends."

Starfire leapt up with a sense of extreme urgency, and began flying at an astonishing speed in that direction.

Robin and his group had gathered around the wreck of their remote plane in order to prevent attacks from behind. Hotspot was standing on top of it in order to shoot flames in all directions, and was accompanied by Argent, who was grabbing dozens of enemies at a time with silver energy and slamming them into more of their comrades.

On one side, Robin was using his devices to handle those slipping through the radar while Cyborg was on the other blasting away with his sonic cannon. Above them all, Bumblebee was flying around to back them up whenever an enemy got too close.

The commander of the Tunite force was watching the transmission with an expressionless face, but his three nail-less, scaled fingers—tapping away rapidly at the hard chair—belied his impatience.

"_Yazenag drezna za'ag?" _(How long is this going to take?) he asked.

"_Doraza mazaag, Zamad."_ (Not much longer, commander,) his yellow-green aide replied, _"Mezaanag yaraad." _(They can hardly stand…even their great power shall soon crumble.)

"_Gazera daz roaz." _(You said the same thing ten minutes ago.)

"_Zamen, Zamad! Zadzua dezare?" _(I'm sorry, Commander! Perhaps you wish to take care of them yourself?)

The _Zamad_ grinned a shark's grin at the thought and stood up, his rows of razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the dim light. Most of the ship couldn't be seen, but the square of light that appeared behind them lit up a cluttered yellow interior as he laughed, _"Mazua, Huazar! Dzaraa kudzage, gayanar gyoza."_ (Excellent idea, Huazar! Inform the soldiers that they shall feed my power on this day, but only once my appetite is whetted by their performance.)

"_Dzegar, Zamad." _(Immediately, Commander.)

The group tensed as a guttural voice rang out in the alien language. In response, a sigh that seemed ecstatic rang out through the enemies' ranks and the pressure instantly intensified. Rank upon rank threw itself upon them with wild abandon, not caring how many lives were snatched away by the opponents.

"This is insane!" Cyborg said, "You knock one down and a dozen fill the space!" Indeed, it seemed that the enemy force was multiplying exponentially before their very eyes.

"They must…put life…so low on the list…of priorities." Robin said with a grunt, "that it simply doesn't matter,"

Suddenly a green flash appeared above them all, and dozens of spherical blasts exploded in a ring all around them. Starfire hovered above them all, eyes blazing and trailing energy. Placing her hands together, she collected a ball of green energy that spanned at least ten feet in diameter before throwing it into the midst of the enemy ranks. Fried bodies flew everywhere as she landed in front of the plane.

"I'm here to help!" she shouted in response to Robin's dropped jaw.

A feral roar rang out in the distance, sending shivers up everyone's spines. "She's here!" the savage voice of the Commander howled from the transmitter, "I must thank you, Earthlings, as the effort of finding my little slave would have been great without her return! Soldiers, fall into rank: _Zedeth_ (The Shark's Tooth) approaches!"

And his laugh felt as if it held all of the cruelty of the ocean in its' depths as a form far taller than the rest appeared in the doorway of the pod.

_Next Time on Mind and Body: The Tunite Commander with the title of "Sharktooth" has descended on Jump City, and things may still turn out to be hopeless…. However, does cruelty really equate to strength?_

A/N: If you caught the Eureka reference the second time around, Kudos to you. If you caught it the first time, double Kudos. Oh, and I know Neon isn't toxic, it was just an opportunity to go into the side of Raven's personality that has NOTHING to do with science. And please, please, PLEASE tell me what you think!


	13. Sharktooth

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, its' characters, places or character personalities. That is why I try to recreate them while telling my own story.

A/N: I apologize for how short this chapter is compared to the others, but after all, having just one scene make up an entire chapter is something I've never tried before.

**Mind and Body Chapter 13: Sharktooth**

Zedeth's wide shoulders were hunched as he squeezed out of the teleporter's iris, his head sandwiched against his chest. Once outside, he spread his arms wide—encompassing all four of the soldiers in front of him—and roared again in relief. He took a step forward and picked up one of his minions.

"Oh, gross," Robin said in disbelief.

"_What_?" Oracle's voice said urgently through the comm-link, "_What's gross? What's going on?"_

"That leader, or whatever he called himself," Robin said with a gulp, "He just popped off the head of a minion and ate it."

"…_oh come on,"_ she replied, _"What's really going on?"_

"I'm serious," he replied as Zedeth started approaching and dined on his soldiers, "I can't make this stuff up."

After another look, they realized that not only was Zedeth eating his soldiers, but with each bite he grew larger. He was almost on the verge of picking up two soldiers at a time with one hand when he arrived, but instead of attacking he stopped and took a huge breath. "Yuck," he muttered, "I have never liked the taste of Oxygen."

Despite being numb with fear, Robin couldn't help but ask, "But oxygen is one of the essential parts of water…why would a fish hate it?"

Zedeth snorted and said, "Maybe on this pitiful planet, but our home-world's seas are made of methane. You see how we might be superior."

"Are we seriously talking philosophy with aliens?" Cyborg whispered harshly.

"Shush," Bumblebee replied, "he's giving us time to plan."

"There's no need for that," Starfire said with a groan.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Just listen."

Zedeth breathed out of his gills and began speaking.

"I am Zedeth, the Shark's Tooth, the eater of God, the user of men…"

As Zedeth continued to extol himself, Hotspot asked, "What the Hell is he doing?"

"It's called the 'Lurgensta'ad'," Starfire said painfully, "It's a ritual of the Tunites where anyone of any status has to recite everything of significance that they have ever done before an important battle, and then recite what they would be known for if they win the battle they are about to enter. The Elders of their race can take a week to finish."

"You're kidding, right?" Robin said in relief, obviously hoping she wasn't, "So we could leave him to talk to himself and have plenty of time to evacuate everyone in the city?"

"Unfortunately not," she replied, "If anyone that was there at the beginning were to leave, they'll immediately fly into a rage."

"Oh. How long do you think it'll take this guy?" Robin asked.

"Most generals will take a number of hours."

Then Zedeth's voice broke through their conversation, saying, "And the soon-to-be owner of the Energy-Beast!"

Starfire blinked and laughed.

"What?" Argent said in irritation, "you like being called a 'beast'?"

"Actually no, I don't," she replied, "but to my knowledge, no General has a Lurgensta'ad of only 5 minutes: I didn't realize how weak a Tunite had been assigned to my transportation."

Zedeth stared at her with blood-shot eyes and screamed, "I AM NOT WEAK!"

"By your own standards, you are," Starfire said with a smile, and she quickly threw a starbolt at his face.

As the smoke cleared, they noticed that he was only irritated. "How did you…," Robin began to ask.

"Did you think that the Supremes would send someone that could be hurt by starbolts after a Tamaranean?" Zedeth asked in amusement. He then swung a massive fist at Robin-who jumped high into the air-and went through the plane's corpse like he was punching cardboard.

Starfire dove to about the same height as Robin's jump and let off another blast as Bumblebee sent a bolt of electricity at the behemoth's face. On the ground, Hotspot was using his fire, Argent was using her plasma, and Cyborg was using his sound cannon, all aimed at Zedeth's chest.

Raven, Beast Boy and Cael were all flying towards Jump City with a vague weight on their chests. Ever since Starfire had disappeared, there was a sense of danger hanging over them.

Beast Boy was fluttering around their heads and alternating between saying, "Hurry" and squawking in falcon. His agitation increased—and his articulation got worse—with each mile they flew.

"I don't get it," Cael said, "I know I'm worried, but what are you doing, Beast Boy?"

"Instincts," Raven said with a little more melancholy than usual.

"Instincts?" Cael said in confusion.

A loud squawk interrupted them and Beast Boy tried to make a break for it. Raven immediately intercepted his desperate flight and caught him, soothing his fear with a soft hand on green feathers. "Shh, shh, shh," she said quietly, "It's okay Beast Boy, it's okay. You know that it's safer when we know we're approaching danger. It's alright—take a deep breath."

Beast Boy took a deep, shaky breath and said wryly, "You're brushing the grass with your feet Rae: are you moonlighting as a lawn mower now?"

Cael blinked at the rudeness of the comment from his usually polite friend, but Raven smiled and rose back up to join Cael. "It's all right now, he has it under control."

Although Cael took her word for it, he couldn't help but notice a tremble in Beast Boy's wings as they continued towards the city.

The blast of their concentrated powers was twice as powerful as they expected, but even though it threw Zedeth a couple city blocks away, he just seemed to get right back up again.

"Everyone," Cyborg said in irritation, "Stand—or fly—back. I think I need my cannon at full power for this one."

"You been holding out on us, Big Guy?" Bumblebee said with a smile.

"Are you disappointed?" he said with a tight grin as he turned the dial on his elbow to 11.

"No, relieved," she said in reply, "But why didn't you at least show it off earlier? I might have joined the team if I knew."

"You mean you'll join?" Robin interrupted.

"No," Bumblebee said, "I said I 'might have'. Besides which, I was talking to your _colleague_."

"I'm still not so sure I wanna work with the guy," Cyborg said, "But the reason I didn't crank this baby up to full power before is that it'll shatter a lot more than I'm comfortable with."

"Why tell us this now?" Argent said in curiosity.

Bumblebee groaned and tossed small chunks of beeswax to everyone, saying, "Earplugs!"

They had barely gotten the wax into their ears before the blast came. It gushed forth with such power that every window within sight shattered completely. The beam of invisible energy seemed to warp their vision as it slammed into Zedeth's head. As the mind-bending sound of Cyborg's cannon became audible, Zedeth began screaming in an odd counterpoint that combined with the cannon to crumble the tarmac beneath their feet.

Cyborg turned off his cannon and smiled at the awe written on everyone's face. "That…," Robin said slowly, "That was AWESOME!"

However, Zedeth had stood once again, panting, "That was…unexpected…," he said in a dark voice, "but as you can see, not even that could harm me." _What am I saying?_ He thought as a drop of sweat dripped off of his face and across his giant teeth, _If we had been underwater, every Tunite soldier within a mile of the epicenter would be dead or unconscious._

He charged then, letting his great weight hopefully put a little fear into his smaller, but scrappy opponents.

They all scattered again, but he swiftly adjusted the aim of his punch and managed to catch the sound-wielding humanoid upside the head. There was a satisfying crunch as the metal gave slightly, but it also pained his hand so he changed targets to the closest girl: the one with light for a weapon.

Argent gulped at the sight of an unconscious Cyborg, but managed to set up a wall of hard light before Zedeth got to her. The giant, scaled fists pounded away at her shield like battering rams, forcing her to her knees.

Cyborg had been a comforting presence for the little time that she had been around—his apparent endurance being a good gauge of danger—but seeing him helpless and unmoving sent a chill of uncertainty through her spine.

Her moment of uncertainty let Zedeth break through her shield, as less of her concentration was applied to its' construction.

As Argent stared in shock that anything could break through her shield, a thin, metallic rope whipped around Zedeth's arms and started to tighten. As Zedeth struggled, Robin appeared from behind him, tightly clutching the other end. After a momentary impasse, Zedeth broke loose with a roar, grabbed the ends dangling in front of him, and swung Robin in a circle before letting go and allowing him to collide with the incongruously pleased Argent.

Starfire managed to trip him up before Zedeth reached her teammates, but in the process knocked herself down as well, where she watched as Zedeth toppled back to collide with the charging Bumblebee.

It was absolute chaos as everyone struggled to get up, and the first to do so were the last two to get hurt.

"You overgrown fish stick!" Bumblebee said angrily, "Can't you even fall correctly?"

"I do not fall!" He shouted angrily.

"Then what was that just now?" she shouted from a safe altitude, "a reverse head-butt? We can call it a Butt-head!"

Zedeth roared again and tried to jump and catch her. Bumblebee took the opportunity to fly a couple blocks away and continue her insults. "HA! You're about as fast as my grandma's runs!"

"Eeew," Hotspot whispered to Argent as Zedeth flew into a rage, "that is not a pretty picture." Argent laughed quietly as everyone tried to untangle themselves.

Zedeth began to rampage at Bumblebee's words, his fists smashing through concrete walls with no sense of direction before charging the source of his aggravation. He was so much faster than before that Bumblebee had hardly any time to zip to the side before he appeared at her old position, having cratered the ground there for a good 3 meters.

As Bumblebee stared in numb shock, Zedeth spread his hands wide and started to slam them together with her in the middle….

Raven arrived with her companions at that moment, encasing Zedeth with black energy in the instant that it took to analyze the situation. As Bumblebee recovered her wits, the others slowly stood up and stared at the new trio in confusion.

"Friend Raven!" Starfire said in joy, "You got here in time!"

"I don't do 'friends'," she said seriously, "not until I know them well. Does this…fish deserve to live?" she asked, changing the subject.

Starfire's eyes grew flinty, and Raven realized she had asked the wrong person. "Oho noo," Starfire said darkly, "I do not know of any that deserves that less."

"Er," she said awkwardly, glancing towards the emotionless, appraising face of Cael and Beast Boy's silently trembling, feathered body before turning back to the group. "What about the rest of you? What do you think?"

Robin shook his head clear and said, "Well normally I would say we should know the enemy's circumstances before making a final judgment but…." he trailed off as Raven narrowed her eyes in concentration.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"_What's going on over there?"_ Oracle said faintly over the comm. link.

"Quiet," a small voice said from seemingly nowhere, "She's concentrating."

Surprised, Robin addressed the disembodied voice, "What is she concentrating on?"

"The fish's thoughts, of course."

"She can do that?" Robin said in awe.

"_Robin, report!"_ Oracle said, _Come on, what is it? Tell me what's going on!"_ but Robin was too wrapped up in the strange situation to reply, and the others followed his lead.

"Shh," the voice said again.

Bumblebee's eye twitched, "I don't take orders from a voice without a body."

"_Hey!" _Oracle said.

"A communication device is just fine!" Bumblebee quickly reassured her.

The voice laughed and said, "All right then, what kind of body do you prefer?"

"Human," Bumblebee said.

"Preferably male," Argent added, "And hot."

Hotspot looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to hit himself or his silver-skinned companion. Oracle groaned over the comm. link.

"Sorry," the voice said with a little regret, "but at the moment human is impossible. Is chimpanzee close enough?"

"Chimpanzee?" Robin said in confusion.

"_All right,"_ Oracle said then, _"I'll stop asking what's going on out there if you promise to tell me everything when you get back."_

"Will do," Robin said in distraction, but forgot all about his half-hearted promise when a green hawk fluttered to the floor and was suddenly changed into a chimp. "S-so that's what you meant," Robin said, his entire body numb as the rest of his friends stared at the green animal in shock, "You're a shape-shifter."

"_Ooh, ooh, ooh!" _Oracle said excitedly, _"Did you say shape-shifter? That would be a great addition to the team!"_

"Except that he can't become human, apparently," Robin replied.

"_Oh,"_ Oracle said quietly, as if thinking about something, _"Well…a green_ _shape-shifter with one form that's off-limits is still really good."_

"Mmm," Robin said, unsure. _I wonder how she does it?_ He thought to himself.

Raven jerked slightly at the strength of his thoughts.

_All she's doing is stare at nothing in particular, _Bumblebee groused.

_She better not be planning on taking my Robin,_ Argent mentally snarled.

…_Who is this clown, anyway? _Hotspot thought.

Raven shook her head. How could all of these people have such strong minds? "Do you mind putting your thoughts on hold?" she muttered, "I'm trying to concentrate."

They all stared at her.

_Now I REALLY want to know._ Robin thought.

_Okay, maybe not JUST staring at nothing in particular. _Bumblebee thought.

_At least she knows where I stand now. _Argent thought.

_Oh crap, she heard me call her a clown?_ Hotspot thought.

The thoughts came with such a rush that Raven tensed, her hand involuntarily closing. Zedeth, trapped in the energy, could only open his mouth with a silent wail as his body began to contract in on itself. With a flat _boom_ his body imploded, killing him instantly.

Raven stumbled and put her hands to her mouth in an effort not to throw up. Zedeth's body now looked like a shapeless mass of scales and flesh as all of the blood in his body rained down on top of it.

"No," she said sadly, "That wasn't supposed to happen." She stared in horror at her own hands, and swore that from then on, she would never use the black energy directly on an opponent.

But it wasn't just her fault—she reminded herself—as she turned to the others standing in shock and said, "That is what happens when you do not do as I ask. Do not attempt it again, or someone else may fall prey to my power and I don't want that to happen again."

All they could do was nod.

_Coming Soon on Mind and Body – So the gang's all here. When will Cyborg wake up? Will Oracle learn something she didn't want to? Are there any petty crooks smart enough to use Jump City's current state of upset…yet dumb enough to commit crimes under the noses of our favorite heroes? Found out next, in Chapter 14: A Bird of Omen._

A/N: I have a couple more shout-outs to new viewers to accompany this chapter! bk00 discovered M&B a little bit before the last chapter was uploaded and swore up and down that he WOULD be reviewing EVERY chapter. I just wanted to thank him/her (I can never tell which online) for keeping to it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The other shout-out is to TalatheWolf, who is actually a friend from before I started my account at . We have many of the same interests and I hope that will continue for a long time!


	14. A Bird of Omen

A/N: First of all, I want to apologize for that extraordinary wait, and give you a bit of an explanation: first it was writers block, then it was a trip that had to be planned, then it was the reason for the trip (Life Improvement), then there was the fact that my computer's keyboard/case/thing was completely shot. At first it was just impossible to use D, E or S, but then the entire thing failed. Anyway, it was in the shop for three weeks and I hadn't written anything yet.

That said, I've had the plot of this chapter planned for a long time, as it sets up someone's past something fierce and forms the basis of the entirety of Book 3 in this series. (This is Book One, and there will be a total of Five) So it's been bubbling around in my brain for months, refining itself and defining itself and redefining itself. It's become something incredible, I think, so hopefully the wait will turn out to be justified.

Oh, and despite the ending of this chapter, it's not the ending of the first book. It's more the end of the first volume.

**Mind and Body Chapter 14: A Bird of Omen**

Robin and his current group could only stare at the oddest collection of beings that their highly odd lifestyles had brought them in contact with. Not only was there a "common" cat that happened to be the only impossible color, a man who looked like he could be George Burns' grandfather yet was clearly as fit as the Dark Knight, and finally, the only one that might have been considered vaguely human was not only covered head to toe with what looked like a vast blue blanket but also had completely _imploded_ their first serious enemy with a single hand gesture.

The crumpled form of Cyborg lay silently to the side.

"Glad to see we made an impression," Raven said with heavy irony, "but what do you say we find somewhere to recover?"

No one reacted. Raven quirked an eyebrow and Beast Boy grumbled. Turning into a tiger, he approached Robin. Robin started to exhibit signs of unconsciousness at that. Beast Boy shoved a heavy, green-furred head into his face and rumbled, "Pull it together, dude, we need a base of operations."

Somehow, the modern slang helped Robin regain himself. He glanced quickly at Cyborg, hoping to have the big man's help in this, the most confusing situation he had ever been in. Including that crazy mind gas of Dr. Strange's. Once again, the newcomers tripped him up when both the blue cloak and green cat swiveled their heads in the direction he had glanced.

"So that's why I didn't detect him," he thought he heard the blue cloak mutter, "he's unconscious."

"Well," the green cat said in reply, "you can't really wake him up here—a tender, newly re-awakened mind in this chaotic situation? He would be truly FUBAR."

Robin shook his head as the rest of his team struggled out of the deep waters; he really wanted to know why the animal was using such modern, pre-teen words. "Ah, could you by any chance tell us who you are?" He asked.

"I'm Beast Boy," the green cat said promptly.

Blue cloak was slightly slow to reply, but she did, "I go by Raven," she said.

The grandfather grinned and said, "I used to go by Firestarter. For a while I was the Flame of the Isles and now I'm simply an old man who talks to fire."

Hotspot couldn't help but be interested, "You have the same ability I do?" he asked.

"What do you do?" Cael asked curiously, and grinned when Hotspot changed. "My control isn't that complete," he said over the crackle of Hotspot's red-hot skin, "but yes, we're both pyrokinetics." He glanced at the group and said, "why don't we do as Beast Boy suggested and find a safe place to continue our conversation? They came to investigate your offer." He unfolded one of the many copies of their poster.

Robin shook his head again, nodded, and started to lead the way to the building he was currently living in. The others fell in behind, except for the fact that Beast Boy (in the form of a hawk) Cael, Raven, Starfire and Argent were flying, being shown the way by a grinning Bumblebee, and Raven was carrying Cyborg with her telekinesis. Only he and Hotspot were still on the ground, until Hotspot tried to emulate Cael's foot-flame and found it extremely easy.

Starfire glanced down and noticed that Robin was trying to keep up, so she swooped down, grabbed his jacket and hoisted him into the air while ignoring his protests.

Oracle was tapping her finger on the remote chair's left armrest, impatiently waiting for Robin to return so that she could get out of the chair. Even the communication had cut out a little while ago, but she had the feeling everyone was all right.

She heard the door open and called out, "Can someone _please_ help me out of this thing?" Surprisingly, she received her help without anyone else coming into the room. She looked around in surprise, but all she could sense was a vague, comforting energy surrounding her, warm and slightly black when visible.

She watched herself hover out of the room, to see the now-larger group coming in the front door. Of course, she did recognize all of the ones she'd met before, but she hadn't planned on seeing an old man, or a young girl with a green cat raising her hand as if to guide something down the stairs….

When she glided down the stairs herself, Oracle realized this girl was the telekinetic, but also that she was a whole lot more. She gripped her knees with her hands and shifted them to the correct placement as she was lowered into the chair. She stared at the girl with incredible intensity, but was taken aback when violet eyes stared right back with as much or more of the unknown emotion.

Rachel had been slightly off-center since entering the building, sensing something incredible.

There was only one mind in this big building, but it was so expansive, so intelligent, experienced and cheerful that she had to resist the urge to kneel. It was just so clean, without any confusion or unpredictable thoughts besides the impatience to get to the next task, that she knew in her heart this was someone who had truly raised themselves above all their troubles.

So she wasn't surprised in the slightest when a vibrant voice called from an upper room, and she naturally brought the woman out as she had asked long before Robin or any of the others could decide to do it themselves.

There was a silent understanding between the two of them the instant their eyes met. It went beyond reading minds, and went into the realm of the spirit. They simply knew that this person was beyond everyone else they had ever known.

The reaction was so great, that the vast majority of its' effects went unnoticed…even by the ones involved. It simply shook them to their core.

"Er," Robin said, breaking the moment, "Cyborg's kinda…damaged here, so could we have a staring contest later?" They both started, and Raven rolled her eyes at Robin's unknowing interruption of the connection. Oracle couldn't help but chuckle. But her face became serious again when she noticed that Raven was also keeping the metal man floating prone behind her.

"Well, get out of her way," Oracle said quietly, "it's all well and good to alert me to any injuries you acquired, but not when that interferes with the healing of the injuries."

Robin flushed and moved aside. The rest of them filed in, avoiding the two young women as if they were untouchable, and Raven fully drew Cyborg inside.

"There's a table in the kitchen to the left," Oracle said automatically, and Raven nodded her thanks before sending Cyborg in there and setting him on the table.

"What do you see when you look at me?" Oracle asked her, and Raven replied,

"I see the healthiest person I have ever encountered."

"The healthiest?" Robin asked bitterly, "why do you say that?"

"She has a mind that is untouched by aberration," Raven said quietly, "the fact that her legs do not move is minor in comparison."

Robin stared at her as if it was all totally beyond him…which it was.

Raven turned to the others, "If you have an injury that won't heal on its' own, come with me." Only Robin fell in behind her when she entered the kitchen, but Beast Boy was still nestled in her second hood.

The kitchen was warm and comfortable, the dark, wooden cupboards and tile surfaces that had been scrubbed to perfection. Knives lined the niche behind the sink, and other utensils all resided in their proper places. The level of cleanliness was perfect for any medical procedure, Robin noted with satisfaction, but he was in for another surprise.

Raven ignored everything around her and turned to him, her right hand now glowing silver, and laid it on his right arm. The scratches and bruises faded instantly, and the gash on his left oblique muscles sealed itself, stopping the bleeding. Even his two broken ribs shifted back into position in his chest, making him want to hurl, but the internal bleeding that would have resulted vanished without a trace.

A minute into the procedure, and the only trace of battle damage was a tender chest. He gaped in amazement as Raven turned to Cyborg, allowing Robin to fall into slight exhaustion that he hadn't felt before. Beast Boy grinned unreservedly at the expression of shell shock adorning Robin's now-rosy face.

"You know, we did support ourselves as healers for 10 years," Beast Boy said in amusement as Robin sat down, "we were able to work miracles."

"Why investigate my team then," Robin asked, his bewilderment removing the last traces of superiority from his voice, "if you could directly save so many lives?"

"Because," Beast Boy said seriously as Raven began telekinetically straightening out Cyborg's dented head, "we only work well when together, and my power isn't exactly suited for the gentle stuff." Robin nodded, as it made sense.

"That's ignoring the fact that most of my powers are violent, too," Raven murmured, "the healing is the only power I know cannot harm people."

Robin wandered out blindly, leaving her to focus on her healing.

"Whoa," Hotspot said at his new condition, "Whatever she did, it worked fast." Oracle's eyes widened and she started to grin unreservedly before saying, "Maybe we've found our last two members after all."

"Well," Robin said reluctantly, the overwhelmed reaction starting to fade, "accepting Raven means accepting the cat…unless, of course, you're saying we need a mascot, in which case I see no problem."

Oracle glared at him, "No, I do NOT mean accepting HIM as a mascot, Beast Boy would be just as much a member of your team as Raven."

Robin growled back, "I am not treating a lower mammal with the same respect I treat people or others with powers."

Cael's face became red with outrage, his eyes seemingly glowing a brighter blue than before, and he took a couple slow breaths before replying, "Then I suggest you treat him as you would someone with power, as his is one of the most versatile and useful in existence."

"So he can turn into other animals," Robin said, thrusting his jaw forward, "but can he change into anything else? Like a human for instance?"

Cael fell silent at that, but his eyes were almost incandescent.

Robin snorted, "Thought not, that means that even if he can speak English, he's never on our level—_huurk_." Before he could finish the sentence, Cael's hand was clasped around his throat, threatening to tighten. His face was mere centimeters from Robin's, white and red hair bristling, blue eyes shining like lanterns and missing the pupils, and skin heating up enough to blister Robin's face.

"That…animal," Cael said with loathing, "is more human than you are. He experiences joy, sadness, fear and safety. He knows how cruel the world can be, and has a photographic memory.

"He has already been able to work past the pain of a human form enough to speak English. He is still incapable of taking the full form without collapsing from it, but he's always getting closer.

"His dedication, loyalty, skills and sensitivity are all far above yours, and have been for a much longer time, little bird, so NEVER belittle someone that you have never known before, because you never know if they are better than you."

Robin was utterly silent except for a little whimper at the temperature, and everyone else was unable to say anything as his or her jaws were congregating on the floor. Even Oracle was shaking, but even though it was mostly fear for Robin's life and fear of this terrible old man, there was a little more….

She was trembling from the injustice that Robin had delivered to Beast Boy behind his back, but finally there was something else about the enraged grandfather that brought back…memories.

_Long ago…so long ago that she shouldn't really have an image of it, her father had brought her to the hospital when Bruce had lost his parents. A dark hallway stretched out in front of them as Commissioner Gordon shifted his daughter on his shoulders. It wasn't something planned, but without her mother or a nanny she had to stay with her one parent no matter what, and perhaps her presence would cheer up the young Wayne anyway._

_ At the end of the hallway, there was a marble bench at which a young boy sat, being comforted by his family butler. Some feet back were another couple of middle-aged men, one in a wheelchair with black hair, the other standing behind him with a small, red moustache and crop of thick hair. They were watching the small scene with understanding. _

_The one that was standing radiated an anger that couldn't be ignored, a deep-seated rage that flickered beneath the surface like the unquenchable fire on Mount Olympus. But that rage wasn't directed at any of the people in the room. Rather, it was anger for the small figure sobbing into Pennyworth's shoulder, an anger that was directed at the no-name criminals that had the gall to kill such an important and kind family as the Waynes. A righteous anger that burned bright in the hearts and minds of all the grown men in the room, but that in him seemed on the verge of appearing unhindered by mortal flesh._

Oracle snapped back into the present in shock. That memory was one she had almost never recalled, but she knew immediately that it was real.

"I know you," she whispered, and Cael suddenly froze, the temperature of his skin immediately returning to normal, and he dropped Robin.

"Do you?" he asked Oracle quietly as he turned away from Robin with the air of someone about to flush the toilet _and like it_, "do you know my past? It is a story of far more years than you can imagine."

"I may not know everything about you," she said with a level tone, "but I have, in fact, met you before. And so has Batman."

Cael looked at her again, his face clearing somewhat, "Ah, so you're that girl, odd, I didn't expect you to become a big name in the superhero business."

Oracle frowned, "well I was 6 months old, how could you know?"

"There's that," Cael said quietly, "so how much do you know about me?" Bumblebee raised a hand, as if she was back in school, "Should the rest of us go elsewhere?" she asked, "and we can give you privacy, if you want."

Cael nodded, "That would be best, child," he said.

"Come on guys," she said to the others as she headed for the kitchen, "lets watch Raven do her thing."

A couple minutes later, Oracle had not learned much more: only that Cael had indeed been present at the funeral for Bruce's parents, as had his unknown friend, and that they had already had a great deal of superhero experience at the time. It was interesting to note that the fact made Cael something on the order of the world's first active superhero, and therefore shouldn't have been in the presence of kids Robin's age.

"I encountered them in Chicago," Cael said quietly, "I was attracted by the scent of two extremely powerful abilities. I'll be honest, Oracle, as much as I can be, but I can't say much. Their powers, even if they haven't fully manifested yet, are of the same level as Superman's.

"My friend and I worked out a system for identifying the strength of abilities we find—a younger man has even adopted it in his search for those of his kind—but Superman's would be what we call an Omega, or Class 5. And both Raven's and Beast Boy's powers are on that level."

He stared grimly at Oracle, who said, "I believe I know what you're trying to say. If they become part of the team-,"

"They will," Cael said, "but that's besides the point."

"I suppose so," Oracle said, taking the interruption in stride, "with them on the team, we have to make especially sure that the group has the role of a family, as betrayal and pure analytical orders can push them off the edge even faster than other superheroes. It will be a slightly double-edged sword until true bonds are forged between them and their teammates. So I'll probably need to stay a little longer than planned in order to make sure it happens."

Cael smiled, "Thank you for understanding: I should go and find a home for myself," he stood and headed for the door, looking over his shoulder as he said, "perhaps I'll tell you, and them, my full past sometime. It would be interesting to learn how much I've influenced future generations after this long." And he vanished out the door, seeming for the entire world to be just some old man, occasionally goofy, occasionally mean, but always old.

Oracle sighed and stared into nothing for a while until the entire group came back in like schoolchildren, teasing Robin for having to get healed again so soon after the first time, admiring the purple hair that was revealed by Raven's hood being lowered, and laughing in joy at being awake.

Cyborg was standing tall and proud in the middle of the group, looking none the worse for the wear for his systems failure. Raven was flushed with success, having revived someone that was part machine for the first time.

"I have to thank you, Raven," Cyborg said with a smile, "it wouldn't have done for the metal man to be taken down before anyone else."

Raven nodded in surprise, "You're welcome, Cyborg, but you don't seem uncomfortable around me…."

Cyborg gently poked her shoulder, "Look, I can guess some of what you went through, simply from having no one that cared for you for years, but that's not what it's like now. People just like you surround you. They like gossip, they love pizza, and they have incredible abilities that ordinary people can't understand. These are people that will get to know you—unlike anyone else you've probably ever encountered. That's got to be important."

Raven stared up at him, "I think you've healed me as much as I healed you," she said in wonder, "strange, I had thought Beast Boy was all I'd ever need: friend, protector, sanity, he's been all of that and more for 10 years. Did you know we're the same age?"

"No," Cyborg shook his head, "I didn't: he looks a lot younger than 16. That's almost the end of a cat's lifespan."

"Not his," Raven said with a slight shudder, as if she could never contemplate such a terrifying idea, "he wouldn't leave after just this long."

Cyborg twitched a shoulder, "They've been known to live 25 years, I guess…."

"No," Raven said abruptly, "You see, Beast Boy's not just a cat. He's a shape-shifter."

"Really?" Cyborg said in interest, "that might be fun to see some time."

"And a couple rounds of Space Monkeys would be even better," Beast Boy said at that, startling Cyborg, who hadn't been awake for their first encounter.

"Your cat plays my favorite video games?" he grinned, "We are SO having a marathon when there's time."

"You're on," Beast Boy said with a bold look, causing Raven to blush as she tried to hold in a laugh.

It was incredible. For once, no one feared her for her hair color. In fact, she looked as ordinary as the rest, with their crazy getups. Argent had even managed to become paler than her somehow.

Raven looked up, with Beast Boy's face pressed against her cheek and stars in her eyes at finding a family, to find that Cael was gone. "Where is he?" she asked Oracle urgently.

"He's finding himself his own home," Oracle said equably, "he'll be back. I don't think he'd ever leave you."

Raven sighed with satisfaction, smiled at Bumblebee, Starfire and Argent, and rubbed her own cheek against Beast Boy. It seemed that her journey was over.

Or at least, she had found the strength to keep walking forward.

With friends and family.

_**END OF VOLUMNE 1**_

_On the outskirts of the city, a small shadow stared across the borders. It was a deep, inky blackness where he was, but the city lights glittered in the distance, looking almost like a fleet of ships sailing through the darkness. Above his head, the stars cast their own light in the millions, shining down in approval. He liked the light: it was like a friend. Like those friends, inside the city; the lights of life interacting in an endless dance. Or at least, that was what his teacher said. That was why they had to keep them happy, because the light faded with sadness. And the light was precious._

"_I wonder what it would be like to be one of them?" the boy asked himself, flashing a brilliant grin, "Naw, I like how I am."_

_And he vanished._

So guys, please please PLEASE tell me what you think. I think I've finally reached the first plateau of my ability with this chapter, and I'll be striving for the next one from now on. Also, despite all the troubles with the computer, I have many other fics that you might be interested in.

There are some other Teen Titans ideas I have, such as _Beast Boy in B Flat_, where his own emotions become hardwired into the pattern Raven has, _The Vo'Tusamol Race_, with green aliens up the wazoo, and _Small Town, Big Trouble_, where our heroes prove that powers aren't what makes the man.

Another fanfic is _Batman: Reanimated_, AKA _A Legacy in Black Leather_, a remix of Batman to accompany the remix of Teen Titans to show you Oracle's journey from a spoiled rich kid to the intense and wonderfully funny cyberheroine we know and love.

I also have a host of Naruto fanfics in the works—universally NaruHina of course—including _Tsuin_, where Naruto actually has a twin sister named Naruko (dur); _Swift as a Snake, Fierce as a Fox_, where only Anko recognized his potential, _N_, where Neji finds himself teaching Naruto, and _A Loving Family_, where the sandaime took Minato's place in order to seal the Kyuubi.

Other stories I have fanfiction for include Smallville, +Anima, Bleach, Megaman NT Warrior, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Black Cat, Digimon, Danny Phantom, Eureka 7, Flame of Recca, Gargoyles, Transformers Animated, How to Train Your Dragon, Hunter X Hunter, Iron Man, Jackie Chan Adventures, Godzilla (with Matthew Broderick), Legion of Superheroes, Meet the Robinsons, Megamind, Rurouni Kenshin, X-Men, X'amd Lost Memories, Pumpkin Scissors, Lelouch of the Rebellion, Xiaolin Showdown, the Warriors novels, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Pokemon Special, Yakitate! Japan, Princess Mononoke, Static Shock, The Mentalist and The Secret Saturdays.

I can name the specific fanfictions at your request.

In case you were wondering, I DO have a life outside of fanfiction. Mostly original fiction. And attempts at a zoo-keeping college. And a concerted effort to get into the acting arena.

I'm just a madly creative and enthusiastic typist.


	15. The Superhero Business

_**BEGINNING OF VOLUMNE 2**_

**Mind and Body Chapter 15: The Superhero Business**

It was a couple months after Raven and Beast Boy had arrived in Jump City, and their new life surprised them at every turn. The first time they'd rescued someone—a little boy who had been attacked by a German shepherd—it had seemed so ordinary they couldn't understand why Oracle was so happy.

Of course, at that point Oracle explained that she had been hoping they actually had the tendency to help someone and hadn't been able to make herself set something up. It was at that point Raven and Beast Boy actually joined.

For reading material, Oracle had ended up giving Raven the full compendium of SLEC rules rather than the pamphlet upon learning how large her vocabulary was. The many twists and turns added on made Raven want to scream, but she did notice a pattern. As long as you were saving lives, you were perfectly free to go about your own.

As Raven was studying the intricacies of their new situation, Beast Boy was having the time of his life. When he needed to be active he taunted Robin, helping them both keep in shape, and when he needed to lounge but still wanted to do something he would play video games with Cyborg. He quickly discovered that the small, slender fingers of a capuchin were perfect for the pastime, but most often he took the form of a chimp so as not to have an unfair advantage.

However, the video games were few and far between, thanks to something Cyborg was working on out in the bay. For some reason, he had taken up residence in the original holographic projector that Zedeth had stabbed into the little isle, saying he had a surprise that no one could see until it was complete.

Robin, naturally, mostly sequestered himself in the makeshift gym in order to bring himself up to the level of his new teammates. He still resented the fact that Beast Boy was going to be a full member, but after the first time BB trounced him, he could see why it might be useful. And besides, it was rather fun to chase the green menace.

Starfire was eagerly exploring the city. Now that her pursuers had been defeated, she had brightened up considerably and her energy was almost frightening. She zipped around from one end of the bay to the other, watching Cyborg in an attempt to figure out what he was doing, flying back to the big, old house to try convincing Raven, or Bumblebee, or Argent to come and do something with her.

Sometimes, when she became contemplative, she would try to decide which one of her new group of friends could understand her the most. None of the humans had ever looked at their own people from the outside before, and they certainly had never traveled between planets.

So she settled for the closest thing, the animal that had traveled between worlds of thought, and decided to talk to Beast Boy. She found him on the roof in the mid-day sun, curled up tightly at the moment, and hovered next to him. The view of the bay was pretty nice, with hardly a cloud in the sky and a light breeze coming in from the deep blue sea.

Beast Boy twitched an ear and looked at her. He stretched lengthily, curling his tongue and squeezing his eyes as the front paws slightly overshot the edge and stood up. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Talking is all it is." She said quietly.

"If it's gossip, you talk to the girls," he said, "if it's human culture, you talk to Robin or Oracle. If it's how to use something, it's Cyborg. Why would you want to talk to me?"

"Because you're the only being to have been a stranger to the lifestyle before."

Beast Boy quirked his head to the side, "Er, I'm not sure I follow."

She sighed, "I don't know how to get home. I can survive in space, but I don't have a good sense of direction, so I would be lost before a couple klicks passed."

"A couple whats?"

"Kli—oh, Kilomiles would be the word."

"Kilomiles…every thousand miles instead of every thousand meters? Sweet, I gotta use that sometime…Klicks. Anyway, that's terrible that you can't find your way home again. I never had a home until Raven came along, unless you include the Manhattan Zoo, so I really don't know what you're trying to say."

"Well," Starfire said, "I'm basically here to stay unless my Gnorfka manages to track me down, and I thought you'd be able to help me fit in until then. You know, since you managed to do it."

Beast Boy shook his head in amusement, "Fitting in, huh…fitting in is something no one can do. The best we manage is to find the people that are similarly out-cast and form our own group. We're all unique, Starfire, and not just because of our looks or our abilities."

He hopped from the ledge back onto the roof and trotted for the stairs, his fluffy tail waving jauntily and his hindquarters slightly rolling. He disappeared down the stairwell to leave Starfire with her thoughts.

His next visit was to the kitchen, where Raven was widening her culinary repertoire under Oracle's tutelage. "So," he said teasingly as he hopped up onto the counter besides the large bowl of batter, "have you stopped burning the water, yet?"

"I'll have you know," Raven said as she brushed her hair out of her face, "I'm at master-chef level with fried foods."

He grinned, "That's because all you do is make the oil insanely hot and throw the food in for 10 seconds before removing it." He sniffed at the large pot on the stove, tried to lick it before realizing it would burn his tongue, and turned away. His tail brushed against the spice rack and knocked off a bottle.

Quickly Raven extended a tendril of energy and caught it before the whole thing landed in the pot. "Really," she sighed, "can't you be a little more careful?"

Beast Boy flicked his tail at that, almost touching the onions.

"Oh no you don't!" Raven said as she snatched the onions away, "I'm gonna try to make a salad with that!"

Oracle twitched an eyebrow, "Wait," she said, "what did he knock over?"

"Huh?" Raven said before she turned to the bottle, "Uh…curry powder."

Oracle rolled towards the pot, where she looked contemplatively at the beef, peas and carrots floating in the water. She nodded to herself and said, "Go ahead and put the curry into the pot, and the onions too. I'll start some water for the rice."

"Huh?" Raven said again.

"Indian Curry," Oracle said with a smile, "It's an excellent, relatively simple dish that uses exactly what BB pointed out. We'll have it for dinner."

"Oh."

And that was the pattern, with BB's nose detecting which spices would work best, Raven picking up everything with telekinesis to watch three dishes at once, and Oracle standing by just in case something dangerous appeared.

The man was half in shadow, and his visible eye was blue. A mask covered the rest of his face, with the visible left half being bronze but rather abruptly changing into black half way. His mouth was left free, above a short, white beard. He had his left hand on his chin as an aged woman stood in front of his secret throne, explaining what her business supplied.

"So you're saying," he murmured with a slightly hoarse, deep baritone, "that you train the villains that are employed by evil organizations?" He took a glass of wine from the shadow behind him and sipped at it.

"That is correct, Slade," the nameless woman said, "H.I.V.E Academy, the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, is in the business of training elite evil-doers of the next generation to serve the masterminds already on the scene. I can vouch for the effectiveness of the program, and not because I designed it: our students have served such prominent figures as Lex Luthor and Ras al Ghul, and we have yet to receive any complaints."

"Your credentials are impressive, madam," Slade said smoothly, "But I have yet to see for myself whether or not they are forged."

"Then may I suggest you lease one of our top pairs?" she said with just as little expression, "it only requires a small fee, and you may put them to any tests you wish. If they prove satisfactory, then we can negotiate a full contract for the children, and if you feel they are not fit to carry through with your orders you will get a refund."

"An excellent proposition, my dear," Slade said equably after a sip of wine, "and yet you are strangely reluctant to show me any recordings."

"I have them with me," the lady said with a slight bow, "if you would but direct me to your display, I will demonstrate."

Slade ordered his shadow to guide the woman to his console. The disc immediately brought up a menu on the massive wall on the far side, and the lady selected a button that was titled "Hopefuls".

On one side, a boy with a full body suit was appearing out of nowhere carrying a black kid with a giant eye in the center of his forehead. This eye was sending energy blasts to every obstacle in the room on screen, alternately melting and freezing them. On the other side, a tiny little midget was controlling a massive, metallic spider that was wiping out everything that attacked his massive partner from behind. That partner was slamming his hands together in order to release an invisible wave of energy, which shorted out every machine it its' path.

"Hmm," Slade began, "I'm rather fond of—" suddenly, a series of pink sparks flew from the side door. A flash of light and the door had flown inside, narrowly missing the presenter.

Although they couldn't see anything much, Slade was fascinated by what he did see: a pair of giant, almond-shaped, pink eyes. "You were actually giving a presentation in this dump?" the young, female voice that came with the eyes said in amusement, "Why aren't you in the white house, entertaining your bald, young friend?"

"Who is this," Slade said quietly.

The woman groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, "A rogue agent. We tried to teach her, but while she absorbed the teachings well enough she—"

"I don't take orders," she snarled, "and you know it."

"She's too random," the woman completed severely, "her powers are great, but they are pure chaos."

The floating pupils rolled, "A little bad luck never hurt anyone…until I came along."

"Interesting," Slade said, narrowing his eyes, "tell me child, what would you say to working for me?"

"Didn't you just hear me?" the girl asked curiously, "I don't take orders."

"Oh, I don't know," was the reply, "not even for a chance to get rid of that new team that's formed in my new city? I had planned to see if my choice could take down that group…what did they call themselves…the Teen Titans."

The floating eyes widened, then almost closed in an upward curve, leaving a slit of pink still glowing as a huge white grin formed beneath them. "I think you just bought yourself a little bit of chaos magic. I've wanted to take 'em since I saw the recruitment process. Stupid things like morals kept getting involved."

Slade chuckled before saying, "then if you would go to the abandoned lot on 32nd street, tomorrow at midnight, you will find your teammates for this little test."

"You've got a deal," the floating face said, its' eyes instantly becoming deadly serious before vanishing.

Beast Boy sat on the table directly in front of Raven, staring proudly as the curry was brought out by Oracle's personal robot.

"Wow," Cyborg said as he sniffed the air, "did you make that, Raven?"

"Er," she said hesitantly, "Y-yes, why?"

"It smells great!"

Raven couldn't decide whether to smile or frown when Cyborg pounced on his plate as if he hadn't eaten in a week. She had both hoods down now, leaving her violet hair to frame her pale cheeks and now looked people directly in the eye with her own purple orbs when she talked. As Oracle had mentioned time and again, it made people want to obey her.

"It's certainly better than last time," Robin said, narrowly avoiding the swipe of Oracle's hand, "You've improved."

Raven nodded at him across the table before putting Beast Boy on the chair to her left. "You have your own plate, Beast Boy," she said as she spooned a good quantity of the curry over her rice and dug a spoon into it.

"I was sure you'd mention my role in making the curry though," Beast Boy said with a fake whine.

Raven just sighed and started eating. Really pouting now, Beast Boy changed into a chimp and began spooning curry into his mouth.

No one even glanced anymore: see the same thing 3 times a day 7 times a week for 2 months and you could even get used to sleeping inside a live volcano.

"So," Oracle said, "any interesting acts of heroism today?"

"Boring stuff, mostly," Robin said as Beast Boy tried to shout around his mouthful of food, "no major villains: just some robbed banks and a near-fatal car accident."

"I got the kid out of the way, didn't I?" Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, by turning into a tiger and carrying him by the scruff of his shirt. You probably gave him nightmares." Robin retorted.

"Actually," Cyborg said with a grin, "that kid's parents called about an hour ago telling us to thank 'whatever it was' for saving their kid. They say he's making absolutely sure to never ever get in that situation again."

"See?" Beast Boy said smugly, "I prevented future trouble by doing that."

Robin puffed out his cheeks slightly and looked away, sending Oracle and Cyborg into gales of laughter, and setting Raven chuckling.

Bumblebee, Argent and Hotspot had actually left 6 weeks before, saying that if they didn't go on adventures, life was boring. They had promised to keep in touch through the comm. links Oracle had provided, but they hadn't really used them yet.

"Where's Starfire?" Raven asked Oracle curiously. The two had struck up an odd friendship lately, with both of them fascinated by the other's extreme emotions or lack of emotions respectively.

Oracle looked at her with a wry smile. "She was bored in the house, so she went to look for Cael's new home."

Raven bit her lip. She hadn't even thought to look for their friend, and even though she knew part of it was confidence in his skill and the exploration of a new stage in her own life, she still felt slightly guilty that the bubbly one had thought to look for him first.

The rest of the meal was rather quiet, and when they had finished Raven levitated all of the dishes into the sink. Lifting off from her seat she said to the others, "I'm going to see Cael and Starfire—I'll be back."

"Wait!" Beast Boy said, and changed into an eagle before flapping up to her level, "I'm coming to!" Oracle smiled as the two of them glided out the door, Raven pulling up her hood before opening it.

"You really like them, don't you?" Robin said, a slight bit of irritation in his voice.

"Well yes," Oracle said lightly as Cyborg winced, "Beast Boy is funny and Raven is a lot like me."

"She doesn't seem like the jokester type…too serious. And I really don't get why those two ALWAYS have to be together," Robin commented.

Oracle smiled falsely and rolled her chair away from the table, "I think I'll go back into cyberspace for a while: call me if you need help."

She turned and wheeled her way through the back doorway. The heavy doors thudded closed behind her and Cyborg shook his head at Robin.

"What?" Robin asked in confusion, "what's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"Yes, it was," Cyborg said, "we're supposed to be a team and a family for them—not a gossip group."

"Oh, excuse me," Robin said sarcastically, "didn't know I'd have to watch my language."

"Not your language, Robin," Cyborg replied, "your attitude. That's what needs watching."

A vein throbbed in Robin's forehead as Cyborg stood up. "What is that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"Oracle told me that there's a lot of the Batman in you, since he was your mentor, and I can understand that it means acting relatively cold to retain your sanity," Cyborg said seriously, "but from what I see, you let your anger out too often and direct it against those who don't deserve it." And with that, he followed Oracle into the back room.

Robin stared angrily at his cup. Couldn't he voice his thoughts anymore? This was just too weird. He tossed the liquid down his throat set the cup down again. Sighing, he set his forehead into one of his hands and started thinking. So just what would they have been complaining about. The fact that Raven wasn't a joker? That didn't seem right…maybe when he had asked if Oracle liked those two…. He shook his head, unable or unwilling to see the truth, and stood to go to his personal gym.

Starfire was singing a Tamaranean ditty as she explored the streets of Jump City. The humans never noticed how their world was so pretty—it was truly a pity. She floated next to a park's pine trees, scanning the ground for an old man with red streaks in his hair.

The air was clear and cool, with the slight, constant breeze making it a little brisk. The trees were dark green and the grass was starting to fade to brown. A faint mist was playing across the buildings' corners.

A figure appeared behind Starfire, and she turned to look. It was Raven, gliding forward with Beast Boy at her side. She waved silently at her new friends and started to glide forward, into the alley. However, before she could go much further the crackle of a sudden flame stopped her.

Cael was hovering at the side of the building, approaching the three of them. "Yo!" he shouted, "About time you visited!"

Raven shook her head, "What's got you so goofy?"

"Well it was a lot easier to find a home than I expected—a job to maintain the rent even fell into my lap. A job in a school, if you can imagine that, as the chemistry teacher."

Raven smiled, "I can believe it," she said quietly, "but how about you take us to your new house? I'd like to see what you have."

"Me too," Beast Boy said, accompanied by Starfire's nod, "It'll be fun to see if you actually own anything now."

Cael rolled his eyes and grinned, "Follow me then: it's not far." He flew around the right side of the building, followed by his three young friends.

A/N: So the second volume starts of with a bit of foreshadowing. Unfortunately, don't expect the next chapter so soon, as I now have two stories to regularly upload. Oh, and please review to your heart's content! If you don't read Star Wars/Clone Wars fics, that's all right, but please check out _The Tano Trials_.

*Gnorfka: A Tamaranean father and/or guardian


	16. A Slight Shadow

A/N: I want to apologize for the massive wait, but I have a very good reason: I was in Florida for the past 6 months and had not brought my computer with me. Not only that, but my time down there was almost completely occupied by other things. Anyway, I'm back and eager to deliver this next chapter to you, my readers. Those that have stuck with me, this is a reward for your patience; If you're new to this, then please start at chapter one to get the full story; all of you, please enjoy.

**Mind and Body Chapter 16: A Slight Shadow**

Cael landed with a quiet crackle next to an ordinary, 6-step staircase of stone that led to the brick edifice of an apartment building. Starfire and Raven landed behind him and Beast Boy changed into a green raven in order to land on Raven's shoulder. Cael glanced at him and said, "I'm afraid they don't allow animals."

He squawked irritably and changed into a ferret to hide in Raven's hood. Cael chuckled and opened the door on a narrow hallway. Inside, he led them to the 4th door on the right and said, "Will you walk into my parlour?" with a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

As expected, there wasn't much there. One couch sat on the far wall, which was probably a futon, and a small bathroom was in the left corner. Surprisingly, however, there was a small bookcase by the couch filled with books. Raven had already read most of them, of course, since they had traveled together, but she hadn't realized just how many of them there were.

"Those pockets of yours must be a gateway to a 'pocket' dimension," Beast Boy muttered.

"See, now that one was funny," Cael said with a grin, "stop trying so hard and you're really good at it."

A slight figure with pink horns, sharply violet eyes and pale skin was standing in an abandoned lot, wondering wryly how the hell she had actually been recruited. The buildings to either side were massive, shapeless bulks that seemed to disappear into the sky…even though they weren't more than four floors. The sky itself was much the same as the buildings—a thick, black nothingness, covered so thoroughly by clouds that not even a single star made it through the cover. Perfect for the night's mission.

A shift in the darkness behind her made the girl whip around, her pink horns whooshing through the air only to reveal a tiny, green-clothed boy staring at her, then groaning and smacking his face. "_You're_ the extra partner, Jynx?" the kid asked incredulously, "how did the old man rope you into this?"

"He made an offer I couldn't refuse, Gizmo," Jynx said, "Though I didn't plan on you and your pet monster being a part of it."

A huge, humanoid figure grumbled as it appeared behind them, fully eight feet tall and with thick, red fur spreading on its' shoulders, head and back. It was dressed in a form-fitting black shirt with yellow shoulders, and black pants that barely spanned its' massive legs. The black gloves on its' hands missed the gigantic fingers entirely, and the nails they revealed were large, jagged points.

The slight opening of its' mouth revealed large fangs beneath pupil-less, blue eyes. "Did Pink Lady say mean things to Mammoth?" he asked.

Gizmo started sweating and immediately patted Mammoth's knee, the highest thing he could reach, "No way, big guy," he said, "she would never use words simple enough for you to understand."

Thinking over the odd statement, Mammoth shrugged his massive shoulders and sat down with a thump that shook both buildings. "Well, whatever," he said, "so what's the plan?" he looked at Jynx.

"Hey," Gizmo said petulantly, "I'm the brains here,"

"But I'm the leader here," Jynx said with a smile, "as the client specified. At least Mammoth knows to respect authority, Gizzy."

Gizmo rolled his eyes and activated the jet-pack, letting the two streams of blue fire carry him towards Jynx's face. "It's the damn pack mentality, but in that case," he said with overly false obeisance, "what's the plan 'oh great sludgebag'?" A bolt of pink flew from Jynx's fingers and slammed into the jet-pack.

The fire started spluttering as Gizmo went white, and suddenly went out, dropping him on his rear. But it wasn't over: the engine suddenly turned back on at full throttle, dragging him backwards in the soil and leaving a nice, Gizmo-sized furrow. Then the engine pointed straight down and started to drag him into the sky.

Gizmo managed to un-strap the jetpack from his back, and activated another machine hiding beneath it. This one extended four massive legs of metal before he landed and caught him with the second floor balcony before climbing back down to ground level. Now, he was hovering even above Mammoth's head. "Let me try that again," he said with a shaking voice, "What are we gonna do, Leader?"

"Much better," Jynx said with a cruel smile, "That old man wanted us to be the test of that new team that passed us up." Gizmo grinned wickedly at that, and Jynx continued, "but I think you'll agree we're too strong to make a good initial test, so I think we should make our own challenge for these guys."

"And that would be?" Gizmo asked curiously.

"Each of us will choose a local villain—or make one—and we'll set those on them first."

"Automatons?" Gizmo asked, a gleam of excitement in his eyes, "perfect!"

"It shouldn't be an ordinary one," Jynx said, "if you do an automaton, since they practically have one of their own."

"Oh yeah, the sound creep," Gizmo answered with a slight frown, then he smiled again "I think I know just the thing."

"What about me?" Mammoth whined, "me no good at making things: only breaking things."

"Then break what you need to in order to get what you want," Gizmo said, "I'll access the Police Database to find you your best 'candidate'."

Jynx nodded in approval as her two teammates got down to business. They weren't such a headache after all—no wonder they were one of the most hopeful pairs. "I'll just use my chaos magic now and put whatever results to use," she said casually before raising her hands above her head and letting pink energy play about her body before it blasted out and touched ten different points around the lot.

Pink swirled under their feet and converged in front of Jynx, where the earth buckled and rose before swelling. It swelled until it looked like a bubble ready to pop, and then it did. Inside the earth shell was what looked like a concrete ball—obviously formed of the baseline rock that lined the basin Jump City was nestled in.

The giant rock suddenly uncurled itself and stood on two, massive legs. It looked almost human, until you realized even Mammoth only reached its' waist and it had cinderblocks for fingers.

"So, strength this time, huh?" Jinx said quietly as Gizmo and Mammoth stared. She turned to them. "Well, find yourself some other lackeys so we can start the party."

Gizmo nodded and then exclaimed in satisfaction, "Here's something," he said, "apparently there's a high-level prisoner that warrants Beta-Class containment in the secret vaults of the prison." He glanced at the others and said, "That's the fourth-highest level of containment tech, after Alpha, Omega and X classes. Even Mammoth might have a little trouble smashing through what he'll find there so maybe…." He looked again at the rock beast that was standing patiently behind Jinx.

"All right," Jinx said as she stroked the fingers of her creation, "my friend can help get through the containment…hmm, I'll think I'll call him Cinderblock."

The mute beast kneeled in front of her at that and she smiled. "You like that, huh? In that case, Cinderblock, your first mission is to assist Mammoth," she pointed at him, "you are to assist him in the jailbreak of a Beta-Class criminal and bring both said criminal and Mammoth back to this place in one piece for us to further debrief."

It stood up again, slammed its' concrete fists together—the wind pressure from the fists colliding set the surrounding windows rattling—and trudged off down the alley. Mammoth had to run after it and turn it to the right before they were headed towards the prison.

Jynx looked at Gizmo, who looked back at her. "Aren't you going to do something?" Jinx asked heavily.

"Of course," Gizmo said, "but even I will need to take some time in order to put my idea into effect."

Jynx smiled, "I'm looking forward to it." But then she yawned, "In the meantime, I'm going to get some rest."

Gizmo shrugged at that, started to set up his personal lab in the lot, and didn't flinch in the slightest as Jinx used chaos magic to break down the wall outside an empty apartment. He was installing Solid Hologram projectors at each corner of the lot as Jynx settled down into an unused bed and tried to close her ears to the sound of blowtorches, metal shards clattering on the floor, and soldering irons.

Oracle was humming as she descended the ramp in the front room. A little bit of production and she could forget Robin's moments of shallowness. A smile spread across her face when Raven, with Beast Boy in her hood and Starfire at her shoulder, glided through the doorway. She waved at them as they landed and approached her.

They had spent the night over at Cael's new place, and the change of pace seemed to do them good. Oracle knew for a fact that Cael's house was tiny, which would just make it seem cozy after the massive coldness of this house. Even though they should have moved on, there was no lair set up for the team.

Oracle had tried to find a good temporary place, but Jump City was prosperous enough, rooted far enough into the annoying black-and-white mentality, that places were either too dilapidated to be helpful or already snapped up. Luckily, though, it was relatively peaceful these days. They could take care of many minor slip-ups and still spend a lot of time searching.

But for some reason, Cyborg never took part. He was spending most of his days on the little island with the projector left over from the Tunite invasion. Lately, he had even taken to concealing it completely in tarps in order to keep it a surprise from the others and extracted a promise from Raven not to use her formidable powers to divine the answer. All he would say was that he was taking his own path.

She shook her head. And what about that miasma of suspense that Raven had reported hanging over the city? The one that seemed almost skittish, like a wild addnimal sensing a coming storm? Surely there was something she could do to prepare for it.

Unfortunately, the feeling was just too vague for her to know what measures would be effective. Oracle sighed again and decided to practice her upper-body exercises. It was getting a little too comfortable to be with this group, and they had the requisite numbers now….

Really the only thing keeping her here, she thought as she balanced with one hand on the floor, was the fact that no bonds with Robin were appearing.

Cyborg had easily formed a big-brother bond with both of her main concerns, and Starfire had proven quite human when she had decided to be Raven's sister. Those four were well on the way to being a family, but Robin still stubbornly refused to admit that pure leadership wasn't acceptable in this situation.

She switched to the other hand.

It had to be handled fast, and she still had no idea how to make it happen.

Beast Boy was flying in the form of a Dragonfly towards the little island. No questions would work, so he settled for a little spying. Buzzing through the hot evening, with the sun beating down, was a lot more comfortable then being wrapped in feathers. He landed on a rock and trained the high-powered eyes on the shapeless tower in the center. _So what do you have cooking, cyborg?_ He asked himself. At a closer glance, the projector was taller then when it had landed, and also wider. It also seemed to have more angles than the cylinder it already had been.

_He's definitely changing it,_ Beast Boy thought, _But into what?_ Then he shrugged, and flew off. He had gotten enough to satisfy his curiosity, so he could give Cyborg the rest of his surprise. But at this point he was only wandering around the city. They had never stayed in one place so long before, and it was starting to make him feel antsy.

Suddenly he was in the form of an ant, plummeting downwards until he realized what happened and took the form of a seagull. He flew the rest of the way into the city. He didn't often take an involuntary form, and it usually meant something big was going to happen soon. Even he didn't entirely understand his instincts at times.

Raven was in the one place she thought she'd never go…so many people with so many different thoughts…and she was here with the worst chatterbox of all…what had possessed her to take up Starfire's offer to go to the mall? She couldn't even wear her cloak here—she had to rely on her sweatshirt's hood entirely. But…the ice cream that Starfire had bought her was quite good…she hadn't thought of food as something beyond a support for the body before. And some of those clothes were quite attractive….

She felt the mental and voluble murmurs around her fade as she contemplated such thoughts. No…it was something else, like a hush had cloaked all activity around her even without interrupting it. There was definitely something wrong, she decided, and it would probably be best if we went back to the house before it happened.

_Beast Boy, can you hear me?_ She thought, hoping his theory about the power was right.

_Yeah,_ he said in surprise, _loud and clear. I guess I was right, huh?_

Raven nodded. Even though she was prepared for it, it was still a bit surprising that she could both send and hear thoughts from so far away. It probably had something to do with the length of their relationship.

_So what's up?_ He asked.

_I just think we should go back to the house and stay there a while. I keep getting these weird sensations._

_Like last night? You got another one?_

_Yes._

_Then I'll be there right after I tell Cyborg._

_Good, I'll tell Starfire._

_0_

Mammoth grinned at the massive hole in the wall, watching Cinderblock stroll through ranks of guards as if it was a walk in the park. He was careful to keep close behind the behemoth in order to let the bullets bounce off of it instead of him. Uniformed grunts scattered before the two of them as the alarms blared.

Cinderblock paused at the elevator, then gripped either side of the door. With a grunt, he pulled out the entire contraption, leaving only the centre cables as evidence of its' existence. It leaped down, and Mammoth followed.

Stale air whistled past them until Cinderblock landed, generating a crater deep enough to make 3 feet of sand, which cushioned Mammoth's own fall. A simple fist through the wall and they were into the lowest floor.

A faint, blue B9 could be seen immediately outside the elevator door, and the floor was lined in lights of the same color, but it was otherwise hidden in shadow. At the other end of the room stood a large liquid-filled cylinder with metal ends. Mammoth quickly strode towards it in order to prevent Cinderblock from trying. For once, he was the one better suited to not breaking something.

Inside the cylinder was a slender, sleeping figure. Trying not to wake the tenant, Mammoth put his arms around the center of the cylinder and pulled. With a groan it lifted from its' foundation, and the connecting cables snapped. Slowly he shifted the cylinder into a comfortable grip, and the two of them made a quick about face before leaving the way they came.

Back in the abandoned lot, it was a full 24 hours later when they managed to return. Gizmo was surrounded by metal shards, but he didn't seem to have very many pieces together yet. Instead, he was applying delicate circuitry to a small square silicon chip.

"No Robot?" Mammoth asked in disappointment.

"Oh, it's you Mammoth," Gizmo said, "Back already? Whatever. No it isn't a robot—that's the enemy's MO. I wouldn't be stupid enough to mimic them. This will be an AI."

Mammoth stared blankly.

Gizmo sighed, "I mean an artificial intelligence. I'm making a computer for my contribution."

"Uh."

Gizmo snorted in disgust and turned back to his work as Jynx floated down from her room. "So what can this guy do?" she asked in boredom.

"Don't know," Mammoth said as he shrugged.

"Lovely," she replied, "let's set my creation on them first—we need to know this guy before we do anything with him."

"What about my baby?" Gizmo complained.

"Is it done yet?"

"…I get your drift."

"So get back to work and maybe I'll let you go next."

"…I understand."

"Umm…," Mammoth said, "since they stopped those aliens, why are we going after them?"

"That's what we were hired for," Gizmo said flatly.

"They're goody-two-shoes," Jynx said, "and with their level of power, they should be taken out early to prevent later frustration."

The group was gathered around the table, with Robin on Oracle's right and Raven on her left, talking quietly about the occasional bouts of nervousness.

"I just don't see how suspicions can be solid reasoning," Robin complained, " just saying 'it doesn't feel right' doesn't seem to be enough to stop any plans."

"Except that those suspicions come from an Omega-Class telepath," Oracle said dryly.

"Omega-class?" Beast Boy asked curiously.

"Basically," Oracle explained, "the people with the highest ranking powers—either in versatility or sensitivity—are called Omega. For a telepath it can even stretch into the realm of precognition if they are in tune with the environment. They'll know things sometimes well before the source of that thought does."

"True, true," Beast Boy said as he grinned at the scowling Robin, "so what about me?"

She smiled, "you're also an Omega."

"Sweeeeeeeet."

"I don't want to just sit in this house," Robin reiterated, "I'd prefer to keep looking for a new one: you didn't need to pull me off of that, did you?"

"I think it was a good thing even if this turns out to be a false alarm," Cyborg said casually, "all work and no play, as it were."

The next morning, sunlight poked out between moderate cloud cover as Gizmo stretched. His green jump suit was speckled with fragments of molten metal, and one hand grasped his completed computer drive triumphantly.

"So where's the rest of your computer?" Jynx murmured from the shade of a first floor room.

"There's nothing else," Gizmo said with a wicked grin, "I'm a genius."

"Since when?"

"Since I created this, of course," he replied, "it gathers all the surrounding electricity—from power lines, the atmosphere, and even other electronic devices—and protects itself with the voltage. Not only that, but the more electricity it's holding, the smarter the AI gets. Like I said, I'm a genius."

"Just getting smarter won't be enough to give them a test, Gizmo," she said dryly, "what can it _do?_"

Gizmo's response was more Saharan than hers, "that's up to it, but the electricity is its' tool."

"Oh," she said, grudgingly impressed, "so how much can it hold?"

"I don't know—it held up fine to 100,000 volts, but I didn't want to push it any further. Oh, and by the way, 100,000 volts equals an IQ of 200."

"Unfortunately," Jynx said with a false calm, "it seems you'll be going last."

"I'm just worth it," Gizmo said with a grin.

Robin fidgeted as he sat in the leather chair, staring out of his window. He needed to do something: he couldn't just sit here, waiting for something that might not happen, but he needed a good excuse for getting out. He could certainly use Cyborg's humorous suggestion, but that didn't feel quite right. It could be something engaging, but it had to have a vaguely mission-oriented facet to convince Oracle.

The door opened, and Raven stepped into the room with Beast Boy in her one hood. "You're trying to think of an excuse to get out of the house." She said quietly.

"I thought you promised not to do that," he said in irritation.

She leaned against the doorframe, and sighed, "When someone truly desires something, with no reservations and with a certain…desperation, if you will, then I can't do anything to not sense it. It is quite literally written on your face to my mind's eye."

"And what does my face say?" He asked in a bored tone of voice.

"It says 'I want to get out of here, but I'm not allowed to work so it needs to be somewhere fun, and I don't do fun so it has to be educational, and I never do something just for the sake of doing something so I need it to handle one of Oracle's concerns for her to believe me'."

"Wow, all that?" For once, he couldn't disguise how impressed he was.

"Actually," he said after a moment of silence, "the museum would cover most of those criteria…," he thought for a moment, _and I know that Oracle has been trying to get me to interact more with Raven_, "Would you like to go there with me?"

Raven looked at him for a long moment then said,

"All right…I guess it can't be too dangerous."

_Next on Mind and Body: a simple excursion and falsified bonding time becomes a terrifying ambush in __**Chapter 17: Night at the Museum**_


	17. Night at the Museum

A/N: I apologize for the wait, and hope you like the latest installment! Oh, and I don't actually own these characters…. Did I have to say it? Also, I'm trying a slightly different style this time around, and would appreciate if you told me whether it added to the experience or reduced it.

**Mind and Body Chapter 17: Night at the Museum**

Oracle stared incredulously at Robin, who had come to her with his idea. "Let me get this straight," she said with a false calm, "you want to do something that isn't necessary to get a result that should wait until after we handle the source of the psychic fog over the city, before we've even identified it?"

Robin hesitated, "Err…yeah."

Oracle broke into a grin and glanced at Raven, who was watching curiously from the doorway. "Well alright then!" she said, "go and have fun for once, Robin."

Robin blinked and stared after her as she rolled out of the room. "What?" he said into thin air.

Raven shook her hooded head, "She just thought that this was perfect—apparently she's been trying to break you of the all-work-no-play habit since you first met."

"But…she was the workoholic then," Robin muttered in confusion, "I was helping Batman because he wouldn't let me out of his sight. Even on crime-fighting missions. She was doing it because she wanted too."

"And that's the difference between the two," Beast Boy said with a grin from Raven's second hood, "Work is doing something because you have to and play is doing something because you want to."

"…Oh," he said, slightly less confused, "well…since we got permission, let me show you the museum."

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

Back at the shattered apartment complex, a goggled Gizmo was watching the scene through a spyfly. He grinned and turned to Jynx. "Hey leader," he said, "I think you should see this."

Jynx came over and looked over his shoulder as he replayed the conversation. As it finished, she grinned widely, "Well then…it seems they are about to take the first test. But I'm surprised they would do something so foolish." That was the only real problem with her Chaos magic—it clashed so completely with the natural order of things that even humans had enough instinct left to sense the wrongness.

Calling Cinderblock to her, Jynx gave him his orders and smiled like a cat at the cream as he disappeared once again into the Earth. "Have a taste of Chaos, little heroes," she murmured in satisfaction.

The stone face of the museum seemed unfriendly to Beast Boy, but that was mostly the guard's expression as he let an animal into the 'hallowed halls' of Jump City Natural History Museum for the first time in its' lifespan. The glare coming out of the man's face was enough to curl your toes, but Oracle managed to have a connection with the curator earlier and coaxed an agreement out of him. There was nothing a lowly security guard could do to change the matter.

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

The curator was a short, balding man with a tight-lipped smile that didn't reach his eyes. His forehead had a slight sheen of sweat and he rubbed his hands together as the three approached and said, "You are Madam Gordon's young friends, yes?"

"That's right," Robin said, still wearing his mask.

"Aren't you going to take that thing off?" Raven asked, as much to appease the curator's curiosity as her own.

"No way—I'm never letting anyone know my identity again."

Raven shook her head at that, and spotted Garfield sitting in front of the center display in awed silence. "What is it, Beast Boy?" She asked.

"Big…dinosaur…," he wavered in reply, and Raven had to agree when she looked at the tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Forty-five feet long—and 13 feet tall at the hip—was quite big, after all. Bigger than anything the two of them had ever seen outside of buildings and trees.

Hoping for a closer look at such an incredible beast, Beast Boy placed his front paws on the plaque and stretched his neck upwards. Suddenly, he was looking right into the skeletal mouth of the model, and all three watching humans had started in surprise.

The curator was stunned as Raven shouted, "Beast Boy!"

"What?" he asked as he turned around, and his neck—which had somehow grown to 10 feet long and gained scales—retracted back into his body.

"How did you—," she began to ask, then she calmed down, setting an example for Robin and the curator, who were gasping like fish out of water, "let me guess, animal parts."

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, "I figured if I can change just my voice-box to a human's to speak English, I could do that with other parts of my body."

Robin turned uncomfortably to the man beside him and asked politely, "Do you think you could forget this ever happened?"

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

A tiny object buzzed lazily down a wide, wintry street until it arrived at a relatively plain door in a large house. It spun down towards its' destination and grew at the doorstep into Bumblebee. She took a deep breath of the cold air, and knocked. No reply greeted her, but she opened the door anyway and stepped inside, to avoid the chill setting into her wings.

She shivered violently and sneezed, rubbing her arms with her hands. "Why do I live here, again?" she asked herself.

"Do I need to answer that question?" a warm, friendly voice said quietly, and the man belonging to that voice came out of a side door to greet her.

From his position, the man seemed identical to the old painting behind him: white, neatly combed hair on top, a full, white beard adorning his face, and sparkling blue eyes looking up at his young charge. However, as the painting certainly ignored any less-than-paintable features of the subject, it was equally certain that Niles "The Chief" Caulder was more handsome than his ancestor—even when restricted to a wheelchair.

Bumblebee grinned, despite the shivers wracking her spine. "I guess not," she said, "and I did what you asked me to, Mr. Chief Sir."

Niles leaned forward then, quite interested in her news, "And? How does he fare? How did you find him?"

"He's fine," Bumblebee said with a shrug, "he has his own team now, and a girlfriend too. I found them because of the other mission you gave me - to check on each team as they are made."

"Is that so," Niles said quietly, "that boy always did know how to land on his feet. Even after 14 years were stolen from him."

"Can I _please_ go into the kitchen now?" Bumblebee asked, "I _really_ need to get warm."

"Of course, child," Niles said, and watched her go down the hallway, a mysterious look in his eye.

When Bumblebee entered the high-ceilinged, white-walled kitchen, the first thing that greeted her was the sight of her real teammates either sitting at the tables—like Mento or Elasti-girl—or standing near the door like Robotman was, watching her steadily from his steel mask of a face, or even slumped in a corner as Negative Man was. As she watched, NM's photo-negative self rose from the floor, entered the heavily bandaged body, and stood, having reanimated it.

"Hey guys," Bumblebee said cheerfully, "I'm back."

The two veterans at the table waved at her absently as they continued to talk quietly, and Negative Man just snorted at her, but Robotman was a little friendlier.

"It's good to see you, Bumblebee," he said calmly, "what news do you have?"

And so Bumblebee told her story again, though this time she gave more detail about their missing member. Robotman seemed more animated as the story continued; Mento and Elasti-girl stood up abruptly when they heard the subject of her report in order to get close enough to hear the whole thing, and even Negative Man showed great interest, though he pretended to be more concerned about his food.

"I'm so glad he really survived," Elasti-girl said as she squeezed the younger woman's hand, "I never really had the guts to believe Niles you know, for all that I acted like it."

Mento was silent, but the relief in his face made Bumblebee jealous of the instigator of such a reaction: Mento hardly spoke at all these days if not to Niles or Elasti-Girl.

Suddenly, two bronze arms went around her waist and Robotman hugged her tightly, lifting her into the air. Even through her meta-human exoskeleton, Bumblebee could feel a few ribs crack. "OK!" she said urgently. "I get it, you miss him! Please don't crush me!"

"Sorry," Robotman said as he loosened his grip, "I couldn't help it. It's just been a very long time since any of us saw Beast Boy."

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

The monster moved smoothly through the earth, melded so completely with the soil that it could see anything that made contact with it as clearly as if it were in its' face. And while it couldn't currently see its' prey, it had easily seen where it was going. Picking up speed, Cinderblock barreled through the earth's crust in the direction of the Natural History museum.

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

The three super-teens were walking through the temporary Ancient Egypt exhibit—Raven admiring the papyri of Cleopatra and other pharaohs, Robin brooding over the sarcophagi, and Beast Boy proudly comparing himself to the statuettes of Bastet—when a rumble shook the room gently.

In the instant they came to realize that it wasn't just a passing car, a massive, stone gray fist smashed through the wall between Raven and Beast Boy with no more warning than the chunks of marble that flew out in front of it.

The three of them initially didn't react, too stunned by the stone, fragments of papyri and pieces of statue that flew mere inches in front of their faces. The few other visitors, however, were not so numb to danger that they couldn't scream and scramble into each other's way as they escaped the room.

Raven took in a sharp breath as she sensed a peculiar _nothingness_ beyond the wall, and turned to escape the blast zone as the rest of Cinderblock's massive body came pounding in after his hand.

Robin, well away from the behemoth's position, took a little longer to recover. But it was still less than a second before he leapt out of range of a second punch. He incredulously calculated the fist to be his own height from side to side as he flipped and landed lightly on a glass case. As his body settled into a defensive stance, he saw that the fist had not only cratered the ground it had contacted, but had shattered it so thoroughly that there was nothing but marble dust floating around the room.

Beast Boy had been unfortunate enough to be directly in the fist's path, so he was the only one who learned that it had actually thrust through as a palm first, then closed into a fist.

The reason he knew this was that when it had closed, it had plucked him right off of the stone table.

Raven and Robin stared as Cinderblock's 15-foot body slowly approached them through the choking dust, his footsteps echoing throughout the room, both wondering in their own way how something that large could've escaped their senses.

Robin took a breath in preparation to launch a kick at the thing's head, but in doing so he took in a breath of dissolved marble and fell into a coughing fit that shook his body.

Seeing his difficulty, Raven immediately assumed her meditative position and began searching for a method to blow away the dust. When identifying every particle separately failed, she temporarily gave up hope until she realized that she could identify things in reverse and specify what would not be affected.

Being careful to exclude her teammates from her mind, Raven let loose with rings of dark energy. Like a massive wave of wind they blew all the dust into the walls, but when it tried to push Cinderblock away, his right fist refused to go anywhere. With a more powerful thrust, the rest of his body flew before the dark energy, leaving the fist in place to drop to the floor.

A yowl of protest echoed hollowly from inside the fist, eliciting a response from Raven, "Are you all right, Beast Boy?"

With a growl, he transformed into a curled-up armadillo and shattered the stone around him with a heave. "Where is it?" He shouted angrily, "Let me at 'em! How dare he pick me off the table like a cookie from a plate!"

She pointed wordlessly behind him, where Cinderblock was rising ponderously to tower above the three of them. Beast Boy laid his ears back to align with his skull.

"Oh."

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

Two figures stood in front of a screen watching the chaos at the museum, the taller one dressed in a red, skin-tight suit with yellow and the younger in a smaller duplicate with reversed colors.

"If you want to help them, little dude," the man said, "then go ahead! I 'aint gonna stop you."

"But," the boy said, "I thought duty was supposed to be above all?"

"Dude," the man said, shaking his head, "saving lives _is _our duty. And when you're a fully fledged member, you'll be expected to handle lesser threats on your own."

Another man, this time in a black cape, appeared at the doorway and said, "if you are going to help them, wait for a better moment to strike: go in too early and you might ruin their chances…and who knows, maybe they'll handle it on their own."

"Oh, it's you," the first man said wryly, "not sulking around your Gothic City?"

"It's Gotham City, and what's your point?"

"Just that it's _your _boy that's already down there—maybe you want him to be able to take the credit? Or maybe it's another _test?_"

"All right, enough you two," a woman said severely.

Flash, Kid Flash and Batman all turned to see Superman and Watchtower in the other doorway, the former looking at them in amusement and the latter in affectionate exasperation, "Don't you have other things to do, Batman? And why are you encouraging the boy, Flash? Which one of you is teaching whom?"

Batman sighed and simply left the room, while Flash blushed, scratched his head and zipped out the other door, leaving a faint, crimson trail behind him.

"It's always fun to watch you do that," Superman said with a chuckle, before leaving them for his own rooms.

This left Watchtower alone with the young boy, who asked her "why are you still here?" with a slightly sullen tone of voice.

"I happen to think this might make good television," she said casually as she quickly made herself popcorn and sat down next to him, "and I think it would be a better plot point if they handled it themselves than if a completely new character suddenly appeared and stole the show. I believe they call that a 'Gary Stu'."

Kid Flash pouted and said, "Okay, I'll wait, but if it gets too far I'm going in!"

Watchtower smiled at him warmly and said, "well, I must say that the death of a main character would be an even worse plot point at this stage of the show, so I won't stop you."

Kid Flash grinned at that and dashed to pick up a chair and bring it back before sitting down and taking a handful of popcorn. It really was good television.

**_SCENE CHANGE-_**

Back in the museum, the three teens watched silently as Cinderblock thrust the stump of his right arm into the ground and grunted. Right in front of their incredulous eyes, he pulled a new hand—already attached and animated—out of the soil beneath the floor.

"Creepy," Robin said as he took a small hop back onto the floor, "looks like just taking off pieces isn't going to work." He took a batarang out of his belt and threw it at the oncoming Cinderblock.

Raven, thinking to make it more effective, pushed black energy into the batarang almost to the breaking point as it stabbed into Cinderblock's side…but it had already been an explosive.

A massive, black-and-red explosion blasted Cinderblock straight back out of the hole he had previously made, skidding him across the already-upturned lawn as it knocked down the door, shattered all glass in the vicinity, plastered Raven and Robin to the wall, and was only drowned out by Beast Boy's animal shriek at the noise.

Raven felt pain travel up her spine as she sensed Beast Boy's condition.

A moment of silence, where the three tried to recover from the Batarang's surprising efficiency, was punctuated by screams coming from the lobby. They rushed out, wondering what else could go wrong, and saw Cinderblock once again, cracks running all the way down its' left side, missing a nice chunk of ribs, blocking the front doors.

A little old woman with a walker had somehow managed to be right in front of it, hobbling desperately for the door, and she banged her walker against Cinderblock's lower leg, though it would've been hardly enough to make even another human to react. "Get out of my way!" she said in a weak voice, I have to get out of here!"

A young man, shaking violently, managed to reach her side and grab her in his arms.

Citizens were screaming almost constantly as they clung to each other and tried to back away as Cinderblock raised a giant fist high….

The two citizens just barely managed to get out of range—leaving the walker behind—when cinderblock slammed the fist into the ground, breaking apart the marble. He continued to pound at it until soil appeared, leaving all the watchers confused.

"I need to get out!" the old woman sobbed as the man held her, "let me out! Give me back my walker!" but it was already a twisted heap of metal and the tennis balls were bouncing away.

The pounding went on for a couple minutes, to the teens' confusion, and even the citizens were starting to calm down.

But then Cinderblock had cleared a decent area of earth, and moved forward to stand in it. Immediately the cracks filled in, and earth wrapped fluidly around his missing side. Not visible elsewhere on the body as bandages would've been, the earth instead seemed to grow out of what would normally be the open wound.

In moments, Cinderblock was good as new.

"Damn," Robin said, "so it can regenerate…but how the hell did it get back so fast?" but his answer would come all too soon. Cinderblock hunched over, as if straining at something, his eyes actually seemed to glitter pink for a moment, and stone spikes thrust out of the ground.

Completely random in placement, they sprouted like a primordial forest with faint pink sparks coming off of them as Raven urgently wrapped every living being in the hall up in a protective cocoon of black energy. There was even a pair of spikes that had been close enough to form a conduit and an electric pink string of energy went from tip to tip for a couple moments.

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

Jynx broke out of her trance with a twitch, panting as she opened her eyes carefully. Whatever happened now, she could give her beast no more physical aid—the remnants of chaos magic in its' stone veins was now only at the level where she could see what it saw…and use its' mouth as her own.

With a breath meant to calm her, she slipped back into Cinderblock's body.

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

The spikes that would have hit people came in contact with the black energy as it defended the people watching, and a violent reaction dissolved both the pink energy holding the spikes together, and the black barriers. A piercing tone, beyond the human capacity to hear, ripped through the air and sent Beast Boy to screaming as the protective bubble popped and the spike was dismantled at the molecular level.

Once again, Raven felt the stab of shared pain.

The old woman reached for her destroyed walker as she floated off of the ground with the rest of the citizens.

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

Jynx grabbed her head reflexively as she sensed portions of the used chaos magic vanish. In a panic, she tried to find it again, and though her connection was untouched, the curious blind spots remained. It simply did not exist any more.

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

Not knowing just what had happened, Raven reiterated her defense and lifted all her wards high into the air to avoid the spikes. Leaving them there, she and Robin jumped down to land in front of the monster. The pink gleamed in its' eyes again, and a voice emanated from somewhere behind its' head.

"You have done something very foolish by destroying my chaos magic," the young, feminine voice said with a snarl, "and it's a shame you won't live to regret it!"

"Who are you to have such a form?" Robin asked in fear.

The voice laughed, "You think this is my body? I am simply along for the ride—my creation, Cinderblock, is the only one actually with you.

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

Watchtower and Kid Flash leaned forward, staring at the scene on their spy camera. "Oooh," Watchtower said, fascinated, "now _that's _a good plot twist!

**_POINT OF VIEW-_**

Raven was wired, her entire body shivering with tension as she stared at the monstrous creation in front of them. Now that she knew the creator had used chaos magic, Raven could sense the mindless randomity that hung about "Cinderblock" like a miasma—a faint, pink haze that roiled and twisted as the carrier took a step forward.

She was amazed that it even stayed in one piece, though that explained why it could re-grow limbs. The mind holding it had to be extremely powerful….

It could be as powerful as her own…or stronger.

Even as she noticed little clots of energy floating away from the main cloud of chaos incarnate and dying out, she turned to ask Beast Boy for a plan.

But he was oblivious to what was happening, staring once more at the only untouched spot in the building….

A tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.

**_END OF BOOK 1, VOLUME 2: FAMILY IN ALL BUT BODY, CHAPTER 17. ACCOMPANIES VOLUME 1, JOURNEY OF THE MIND_**

Next time, on Mind and Body, _**Chapter 18—Battle at the Jump City Natural History Museum**_, proves that Jynx has a talent for biting off more than she can chew. And the red corner, secret observers from both sides of the fence realize they may have underestimated their competition.

P.S. I said at the beginning that I do not own the Teen Titans. I know I wish I owned it, but do you wish I owned it?


	18. Battle at the JCNHM

** Mind and Body Chapter 18: Battle at the JCNHM**

Author's Note: my deepest apologies for the considerable delay, but I had a couple of extremely significant changes in my life recently that will be filling up my time pretty thoroughly. I will still get a little time at the end of each day to write though, so this story is by no means over—it will simply be a little longer between installments. Luckily for all of us, I now have a two-month period where I will have a relatively larger amount of time to write and will take advantage of this. Also, I've decided to post the first chapter of a number of my other stories all at once in order to give you all a bit more variety in your reading material while waiting for the next chapter and give me more of a reason to work on all of those projects. I do love hearing your reviews and it's not that I'm immune to the importunings of my fans (heh, I called you fans ): the stories I will be posting in addition to this one will be some of the ones in the worlds requested in your reviews. Because of this, there will be an Avatar: The Last Airbender fic, and 2 Naruto fics appearing soon as well as the next chapter of Mind and Body.

I do not own the Teen Titans, and I do not enjoy that either.

I DO, however, hope you enjoy the chapter and hope you find the time to review.

READ ON!

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Beast Boy sat as if hypnotized as the chaos raged around him. All that existed for him was the dark brown, skeletal structure staring back at him, its' banana-teeth-filled mouth gaping slightly. The noise disappeared for him and he recalled all the data he had every found on the creature.

He couldn't believe he was going to try this—he didn't even know if the scientists recording the data considered engineering flaws in their hypotheses; he could crush his entire body from his own weight if this was wrong. But he knew that without a game-changer, this would become a war of attrition…and if anything was perfectly suited to such a game, it was their current enemy.

A sharp cry from Raven jolted him into action. Delving deeply into himself, Beast Boy reached that endlessly shifting core and imposed the image of what he wanted to turn into upon it: the long, apparently slender legs, the wide powerful jaw, and of course the awe-inspiring length combined with all the little, known facts to be a perfect duplicate.

The sound of ancient bones and brown plastic clattering together as they fell told him the transformation had occurred. Where once a green house cat stood staring at a fake tyrannosaurus skeleton, there was now a living, breathing specimen stretching impressively as it turned to the other combatants.

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Watchtower sat up straight at the sight on her screen and snarled with a vehemence so sudden that Kid Flash jumped away from her instinctively, "Greer!" She said harshly, and then left it at heavy breathing until she had calmed down.

"Damn," she said soberly, "I was hoping I left those reactions behind me." She covered her eyes with one hand and gripped the armrest with the other, as if to balance herself, until she let it out with a sigh. "Well, that's enough of that."

Kid Flash silently sweated as he inched out of the room. But Watchtower still watched—this time with a very serious look in her eyes.

"Convince me that not all shape-shifters are evil, little kitty," she muttered.

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Beast Boy looked at himself and snorted softly. Of course, a soft snort in this form sounded like a dissatisfied, full-volume gust of wind. Raven glanced his way and stopped cold. Both Robin and the Jynx-infused Cinderblock followed her gaze, freezing in fear at a 40-foot, green, live tyrannosaurus in their midst.

Gleefully, he let loose a huge roar, putting Raven's hair on end, setting Robin quaking in his boots, and although he didn't know it, making Jynx faint.

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The room was dark and well-sealed from sight, but Cyborg, sitting down in front of a huge screen, still heard a distant roar. He shivered, "that sounds out-of-this-world," he muttered, "what the hell could make that kind of noise?" He dropped the controller in his hand, intending to go to them, but a tinny voice shouted from the screen, "Hey! You can't ditch the game, you jerk!"

"Sure I can," he said to his online opponent, "real life is calling."

"Oh," the enemy said, "well if you have to go to the bathroom, fine, but I'm not letting you out of your house!"

"And how would you do that?" Cyborg asked curiously.

"I've already hacked your systems," he said, "that's why."

"What?" Cyborg said, "How could you?"

A third voice chuckled over the in-game comm. System, "However high-tech, computers still operate on the same principals. Obviously he's using one to his advantage. Besides, you really can't just leave—I haven't kicked your whining little ass yet."

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Cyborg shouted, and forgetting about the sound—after all, it could have been anything—he dived straight back into the game.

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"Hey, Pepto-Bismol!" Gizmo shouted when the scream emanated from the shattered apartment, "Don't wake the neighbors!"

Mammoth stared at him. "What?" Gizmo snarled, "we don't want them knowing we're here." Mammoth brightened at that. Gizmo snorted and rolled his eyes before jetting up to the second floor, where he saw the unconscious Jynx.

Although he didn't want to admit it, the sight of such an unpredictable, powerful person reduced to nothing filled Gizmo with fear. She may be nasty, but she was an important ally in this test. The best, actually, and if the enemy could defeat her—even at a distance—then that meant…, "Either they have a psychic of unending potential," he muttered to himself, then lost his fear as he realized in unastonishment, "or they found out what she's afraid of and showed it to her."

Of course, if they could do that they'd easily discover _his_ greatest fear: Jynx.

Taking a cup of water from the only surviving piece of furniture—a nightstand—he dumped it over Jynx's head. Suddenly, she was only his second-worst fear.

The thing that did this to her was number 1. And he was not letting anything help it get to him.

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Beast Boy immediately charged Cinderblock, who was completely still, with the beat of massive wardrums following his footsteps. _I have to finish this quickly!_ He thought as he head-butted the granite behemoth. The sound of flesh and stone meeting thundered through the hall and caused tremors as they collided. Even at his incredible size, Cinderblock's feet only just left the ground as it gripped Beast Boy around his jaws with its' giant arms. With great effort, Beast Boy threw Cinderblock into the air and jumped out of the way.

Cinderblock fell like a stone, slamming so hard into the concrete that it broke apart completely. For good measure, Beast Boy bounded back and stepped—one giant foot planted firmly on the last fragment of chest, and the other grinding its' head to powder. "Now no matter what part is its' center of life," he said with a heavy, panting growl, "it can no longer regenerate."

But he had spoken too soon.

The granite powder surrounding him lifted from the ground and began to swirl into its' original shape. As he prepared to destroy it again, Raven interrupted Beast Boy. "Wait a minute!" she shouted, "Let me try that tracking technique, like I did with Starfire to find Robin."

"_You can do that?"_ Robin shouted incredulously.

Ignoring him, Raven entered Cinderblock herself, causing the eyes to gain a faint purple color for a moment.

Inside Cinderblock, it was very clear from the thick, brilliant but rapidly dissipating cord of energy that the enemy had vacated extremely recently. But before she could detect the source, Jynx's astral form came flowing back along the cord with enough anger to push past all the barriers.

"**How dare you steal my servant, you stupid cloaked bitch!"** she mentally screamed.

"**What did you call me?"** Raven shouted back, but the attack was too sudden, and she was shoved back out of Cinderblock by the Chaos Witch's vehemence.

"Damn!" she swore as she reappeared in her body. Upon looking around she saw both a brightly hued boy and a giant green Tyrannosaurus staring at her in shock. "Er," she said, smiling awkwardly, "Robin I'd understand, but is it really so surprising that I can swear, Beast Boy?"

"Ah yes, yes it is," Beast Boy said, attempting to lie down and rest his quaking muscles, "you haven't used a swear word for 7 years."

"Ah, that's right."

Robin stared at them sickly, _I think I should stop pissing those two off,_ he thought, _I might just find myself hanging from my crimson-red pants._

But Cinderblock was already fully constituted, and Jynx took the advantage to jump at Beast Boy's back. "Beast Boy, behind you!" Raven shouted.

On instinct—his most reliable sense—Beast Boy spun to face the exact opposite direction from which Cinderblock was coming.

"What are you doing?" Robin and Raven both shouted, and Jynx laughed in exhilaration.

"Hahahahaaa! I win!"

"Not really," Beast Boy muttered wearily, "you forget that both ends of this thing are weapons." And the massive tail swung seemingly out of the blue to send chunks of suddenly lifeless granite tumbling further into the great hall.

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Jynx cried out as pain ran all the way through her body. As a backlash from being mentally present at the time of impact, her own chaos magic picked her up and threw her across the room in an exact mirror to how Beast Boy had thrown Cinderblock.

Gizmo stared in absolute shock, his left arm raised in an instinctive bid to protect himself, as Jynx collapsed, truly unconscious.

"Wake up!" he shouted, a hint of fear coming into his voice involuntarily as he ran over to her, "just wake up, Pinkie! You lost this time but you can win! Come on!" he started shaking her shoulder, but it didn't work.

Suddenly, Mammoth was behind Gizmo, a giant hand descending….

He tapped Jynx's cheek with a thick finger, growling like a beast, and Jynx abruptly woke up, screaming.

"_Gyaaaaaaa!"_

Gizmo suddenly found himself behind Mammoth's head. Jynx looked around with some confusion. "What? I was asleep…I won, right?"

Gizmo paled. _Is it…amnesia?_

"Argh," Jynx groaned, "no I definitely didn't win—not with this mindache." Gizmo silently breathed a sigh of relief. Jynx slowly stood and walked up Mammoth's proffered arm before grabbing the front of Gizmo's shirt. "Is that computer of yours done, midget?"

Gizmo shoved her hand away and said, "Of course not, it takes time to construct a stable A.I., even I can't cut corners if I'm to make it safe for us."

Jynx put both hands on his collar and began shaking him, a strange expression on her face as she said, "Well finish it now! I don't give a shit about safety just kill those bastards!"

"I will not put myself at even more risk than I am now just to reassure you," Gizmo said, strangely calm as he realized Jynx was scared shitless of her opponent.

Jynx was about to kick his ass when she froze, a look of absolute horror on her face as she swung in the direction of the museum.

"No…," she whispered, "They can't…how do they have one of those? A shape-shifter, a psychic _and_ a tracker? Fuck, is that what the strangely colored boy can do?" She bit a fingernail. "Damn it, I'm going in again." And she once again slipped inside Cinderblock's limited consciousness.

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Beast Boy stood carefully, his feet splayed and head bowed, breathing heavily. In the form of a tyrannosaurus, he sounded like a steam train. Inside Cinderblock, Raven and Jynx struggled for dominion, with neither having a clear advantage. Robin…stood off to the side, hating himself for having no way to contribute.

The room was silent but for the little old lady and curator crying with each other. "My museum…," the curator muttered pitifully, "it's ruined."

"My walker…," the old lady echoed, "it's ruined."

They hugged each other, "We're ruined!"

"I can't…I can't take it much longer," Beast Boy said weakly.

"What?" Robin said, "Can I help?"

"P-probably not," Beast Boy said, his voice wavering, "but thanks for the thought."

Raven abruptly stopped the mental battle at that, looking to Beast Boy. "What's wrong, BB? You're less green." She asked.

Beast Boy laughed at the initials and said, "Well, the scientists got it wrong."

"What?" The curator said, outraged, "how dare you! How do you know that?"

"This design…," he whispered, weaving ponderously, "isn't very useful."

"But you kicked that thing's ass with it," Robin said as Cinderblock slowly regrew its' legs, "that's pretty useful."

"No," Beast Boy said, "it tears itself apart with this structure—nature wouldn't evolve something that breaks its' own legs simply by existing."

"What?"

Beast Boy's legs snapped, slamming him down onto the ground and cracking his own jaw. His roar of pain echoed so loudly it popped a dozen eardrums.

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Cyborg's face went as white as it could at the new, pained sound. Whatever it was, it was in danger of being destroyed. "Oh what the fuck," he growled, "I don't know your real names, but Control Freak, Atlas, I resign."

"Hey!" the geek shouted, "you can't just do that!"

"As much as I hate to say it, I agree with him," "Atlas" said, "I have not defeated you yet!"

"I'll play you again some other time," Cyborg said, "but right now, I think my teammates need me." He pulled the plug as CF said "Waaaaaaaaait!" The screen went black, and Cyborg went to a sliding door way in the back wall. Opening it, an elevator was revealed, but when he pressed the button, instead of sliding, Cyborg vanished to reappear on the ground floor. He bolted into a large black space, and got into an ordinary looking car before entering a seemingly endless tunnel.

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Watchtower's expression was contemplative as she watched the great, green dinosaur try to writhe in pain, "Who knew you had such a dangerous drawback," she muttered, "I don't know if I like you, shape-shifter, but I do sympathize."

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Oracle sat in darkness, all the blinds closed and lights turned off as her fingers drummed nervously on the arm of her wheelchair. _Damn it,_ she thought, _left out again. This fucking sucks._ She looked again at the e-message playing across the screen in front of her, _and now this._

Dear Oracle, the message began,

I regret to say that you have no more time. Your little entertainment has cost SLEC 5 months of reduced intelligence gathering. We aren't even able to know what our allies had for breakfast, let alone the evil organizations. Your presence is required within the week, at a location that Watchtower will deliver to you.

You must be here. This meeting will decide the fate of the western hemisphere, so we expect you to do your duty.

Best Wishes,

Samuel Witherton, SLEC Vice-President West US.

Oracle slammed the arm of her chair, closing the window, and rubbed her face. "Why did I ever agree to take that position?" she asked herself, "now that I know Raven and Beast Boy, I know that this generation's story will be happening here. Watchtower should know it as well, though I worry for the effect Beast Boy's ability will have on her, so why do they want me gone?"

She gripped her hands tightly, screwing up her face and thought, _I don't want to go!_

A tear escaped her right eye.

_These are wonderful people, every one of them. _She thought, _None of them have sunk to the level of politicking of SLEC, none of them have the absolute conceit of a long-time superhero. Raven truly wants to help people; Beast Boy is incredibly devoted to her; Cyborg has retained his humanity despite being over half-machine; Starfire has got to be the biggest alien I know, but she still has a lot of care and concern for her friends, and Robin…_ Well, nothing could be said about him, both because she knew him so well words no longer described him, and because there was less to say. He wasn't an angel, or trying as honestly as the others, but heroism was the only thing he knew. He had never been tempted to turn sides, no matter how difficult it became.

She sighed, _They aren't very friendly at the moment, which is what I wanted to establish before I left, but they do trust each other. And that's more than most other teams._

Maybe it _was_ time to go, but that didn't change her feelings. She smiled as she remembered how many arguments Robin and Cyborg had had at the dinner table, everyone watching as if it was entertainment, with Raven and Beast Boy sitting next to her and Starfire watching in confusion from the corner. She remembered how Cyborg always won those fights—making Robin pout and requiring her to cheer him up, she remembered how Beast Boy and Cyborg would challenge each other to video games nearly every night; how Raven would break up their arguments; how Starfire attempted to speak regular English.

They were the funniest superheroes she had ever known, but they were also the ones that knew her own, currently-wheelbound situation the best.

_Well, I'll see what they have to say,_ she decided as she opened the blinds, _after all, the advantage here is that they think of the future, not the present._

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_

"Daaaaammmmmmnnnnn yoooooouuuuu!" Jynx growled as she looked through Cinderblock's eyes at Raven. The cloaked psychic was whiter than every before, and even beginning to dither, little spots of black beginning to appear at random, but Jynx had no role in it.

"Hey!" Jynx shouted at Robin, "Rainbow Brat!"

"What?" Robin said back with almost as much outrage.

"How did you track me?"

"What?" he said, genuinely confused as the jewelry behind him tore itself apart, "what tracking are you talking about?" The hanging stub of pillar next to Beast Boy's tail popped like a bubble. It was Jynx's turn to be confused.

"You mean it wasn't you?" she slowly turned Cinderblock's head to look at Raven.

"Beast Boy, what happened?" Raven shouted desperately. A portion of the ceiling fell next to Cinderblock with a crash.

"I broke…my own…legs," Beast Boy said weakly, "what does it look like?"

"Idiot!" she said, tears coming down her face, "why do you always have to hurt yourself?" The platform where the skeleton had been cracked down the middle, and the ceiling of the gift shop caved in.

Beast Boy smiled softly—or as softly as a tyrannosaurus could—but didn't say anything. The floor sank a couple of inches and a pillar fell behind the quivering onlookers. The rumbling that came afterwards signaled that more could happen at anytime.

"Whatever," Raven said as she wiped her eyes and rolled up her sleeves, "just let me heal you…."

Summoning the last bit of strength, Jynx got a little pure chaos magic through Cinderblock into the museum. Forming it into a ball, she threw it and it lodged into Beast Boy's right leg. "There," she said, a little more of her former confidence bleeding through, "now it doesn't matter how much you heal him—my chaos magic will immediately unmake any of your attempts to heal him." She started laughing; an exhausted, reedy trill that sent shivers up everyone's spine.

Raven was absolutely still as she watched the baleful pink lightning sink into Beast Boy's muscle, seeming to leave no trace of extra damage or pain, but she could tell that it really was breaking down his body at a terrifying rate.

Her heart stopped for just a moment. Beast Boy cringed faintly, _oh no_ was the only thing he could think,_ not that, please, no. _For an instant, four narrow eyes were superimposed over her abnormally large ones, but they disappeared as her irises began to glow a deep, blood red.

Jynx's laughter faded away as the museum turned black, spreading from Raven like a malignant sludge until everything was covered.

"What—what is this?" she whispered harshly. Raven stood, and turned slowly. The sight that greeted Jynx was of two brilliant red orbs sunk deep into a pitch black hole where Raven's hood had been, and a billowing swath of blue that floated independently around her invisible body. A deep snarl that sounded almost like Cerberus had appeared emanated from the area with the two red circles, and Jynx felt her gut clench as her mind was grabbed, compacted into an astral ball, and thrown back into her body with no more effort than a pitcher took to throw a softball.

**YOU WILL PAY,**a terrible voice echoed in her head, **YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE WILL SOON END.** And Jynx knew it was the truth.

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Watchtower gaped at what had just happened. "I didn't think they'd encounter someone so dangerous so early on," she said quietly, "and I also didn't expect the psychic to be a healer…. Well, they both must be Omega-level powers," she said with a brilliant smile, "and it is good to see someone at least a little like me, so I suppose I shouldn't hold your power against you, shape-shifter." Her smile softened as she thought, _I do wish Clark and I had that level of understanding, though._

She chuckled at the thought, but frowned again as she thought of the chaos ball Jynx had thrown. _That can't be good, but I can't interfere without being found out. I hope they make it through this_

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_

Raven lifted her entire body as Cinderblock fell to its' knees, and melted into it, even melding the flesh with the granite. Robin and Beast Boy stared in fear—the former for himself, the latter for his friend—but they couldn't do anything as Cinderblock's eyes blazed crimson. It turned abruptly and walked towards the back wall. **Death is coming,**Demon/Raven/Cinderblock breathed as it touched the wall and made it vanish.

Robin slumped to the ground as Cinderblock disappeared and said, "What the hell is going on?"

"It only happens when she willingly gives in to Rage," Beast Boy said quietly, "her personality and even her powers change completely. She becomes an entirely new person—no, she becomes a demon."

Robin took in a huge, shaky breath and said, "I am _really_ freaking glad you're on my side, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," Beast Boy said tolerantly, "if only because I'm the only one she won't attack in that state." Robin flinched at that.

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Jynx's screams were extremely shrill this time around, and her eyes were rolled up inside her head as she struggled in Mammoth's arms, "Get away from me! Stop it! No! Fuck off! Don't kill me! Please!" she babbled, tears and sweat streaming down her face and every muscle in her body as rigid as a metal cable, "Noo!" she sobbed to Gizmo's horror, "We have to get out of here! Get us out of here! She's coming and she'll kill us all!"

As Gizmo was too stunned to react, Mammoth did. He turned immediately and carried both of the others outside.

"_NO!"_ Jynx's voice came again, "Kill her first! That way we wont have to run!" she grabbed Gizmo by the throat and threw him back down to ground level, where he just barely caught himself with the Jetpack before landing. The computer chip was lying on the table beside him when Jynx landed lightly in front of him. "DO IT!" she shouted "ACTIVATE THAT STUPID THING AND MAKE IT KILL HER!"

"But-but-but," Gizmo stuttered, scared shitless of this new Jynx, "doing that will—,"

"I don't care!" she shouted again as she lifted him up and slammed his cheek into the table, pressing it against the computer chip.

**Enough,** A voice came out of nowhere, and they froze.

**Do not think you can get your wish through force alone,** the voice said, **you must first make your peon capable of following your orders.** And an electric bolt suddenly lanced into Gizmo, lighting him and his equipment like a Christmas tree.

The computer chip lifted itself into the air by its' own electric power, still holding Gizmo transfixed in midair, and said **I will take your intelligence as my own, o creator of mine,** and suddenly the light disappeared, and the computer chip leapt away at the speed of light.

Jynx collapsed and started crying again, "get me out of here," she said weakly, and Mammoth silently lifted up both teammates before running into the darkness.

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Finishing the number done on the vacant apartment building, Cinderblock arrived merely minutes after the three had beat a safe retreat. The sight of the vacant lot with masses of equipment reassured Rage that they had been here but…

**DAMN,** she said, **STUPID WOMAN WIPED THE PLACE CLEAN OF PSYCHIC SIGNATURES.** But with the absence of a target, the original personality reasserted itself.

Raven was sick to her stomach as her body pulled itself slowly out of Cinderblock, and when she was on the ground, she fell to her hands and knees and threw up. Behind her, Cinderblock's now-empty shell slumped. Raven stood up abruptly and turned back towards the museum. "Beast Boy," she whispered, "I _will_ save you."

And so she flew back, leaving Cinderblock behind.

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Raven tore into the mansion just as Oracle was about to leave, a bloody Beast Boy back into his first shape and in her arms, and it was all chaos after that.

In the kitchen, Raven laid the unconscious Beast Boy on the table and immediately wrapped her hands in the silver energy, healing his minor scrapes and bruises instantly, but as Cyborg quickly entered, the legs refused to heal and he didn't regain consciousness.

"What happened!" Cyborg shouted.

"I don't know!" Raven shouted back, "I don't know why it's not healing, but it's got to have something to do with that pink girl's last attack!

"What pink girl?" Cyborg replied, "what attack? Why was it done without me?"

Raven stared pitifully at him and turned away. Cyborg's expression, despite its' mechanical parts, carried a deep shame and emotional pain. Robin sat on the edge of the table, extremely dirty, and brushed a hand against Beast Boy's fur.

Oracle, having straightened her chair out as much as possible, came rolling into the kitchen with a white face. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice shaky, "why are you in that condition?"

Robin took in a large breath and let it out. As Raven showed no inclination of answering, he took it upon himself.

"_WHAT!"_ Oracle said sharply, _"You fought someone like that? _And didn't tell me?_"_

"Well it's not like we knew it was going to happen," Robin tried to say.

Oracle exploded, "You have a fucking communicator Robin, _HOW COULD YOU NOT USE IT?"_ Robin flinched.

"I-I-I…," He dropped his head and said, "it completely slipped my mind."

"Geez," she said, "I have more doubts about leaving now than ever."

Raven looked up sharply at that and said, "what? You're leaving?

Oracle sighed, "I've been ordered to return…but they gave me a week, so I still have five days. I'll be here at least until Beast Boy recovers."

Cyborg banged a fist against his own side and said, "well, I'm not gonna let us split again, seeing as my surprise is ready for its' unveiling, so you don't have to worry. Besides, just the three of them took out an enemy that dangerous: think about how many are at that level in the world and you'll see that together, no one will stand a chance against us!" He laughed.

"Famous last words," Oracle muttered.

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Next time on _Mind and Body:_ For the first time in 7 years, Beast Boy is actually stuck in convalescence, and Cyborg has a surprise for all his friends. As Oracle is about to leave, the Teen Titans decide to throw a huge sending-off party, but with these guys nothing goes as planned. All this and more on **_Mind and Body: The "T Tower"_**

I knew it would happen eventually, but I officially have to up M & B's rating to Mature.

So I hope this chapter was a good repayment for waiting so patiently, and remember there will be other stories by me coming soon! Also, I found a better way to separate scenes. What do you think?


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